egyptair ms804: fires are a growing problem for airlines - where can i buy lithium batteries
I have just spoken to someone who has been a pilot for 46 years, he has been driving the Airbus A320 for six years, and for the last 11 years he has been investigating fires on the plane.
Captain John Cox, a researcher in London
Headquartered at the Royal Airways Association of England, it is confusing to tell me the known facts about what happened on the missing Egyptian airline flight MS804.
If our time is right (
No formal confirmation yet)
There were three minutes of smoke and heat warnings, followed by a four-minute power flight without warning, followed by a two-minute fall.
"It was a very short time for the fire.
"It's been a long time for an explosion, like a bomb," he said . ".
"It has scratched my head with many other experts.
The answer is yes, but it is not clear yet.
Captain Cox has some sobering data.
About 900 a year-1,200 smoke-
Related incidents on American planes.
If you double that number, you get a rough global number.
Most of the planes landed safely, but the fire crashed the plane.
"It's very normal, along with drones, that's the only part of the aviation sector that's getting more and more dangerous," Captain Cox said . ".
He attributed this increase to two things: an increase in the number of flights and a significant increase in the number of people riding lithium batteries.
It is estimated that a passenger plane carrying 100 people may have 500 lithium batteries in cameras, laptops, tablets, mobile phones and electronic equipment in the cabin. readers, etc.
Broken batteries are becoming more and more problematic, he said.
"Maybe someone fell asleep.
Their tablet or phone slipped from the side of the chair.
They moved the seat and accidentally crushed the battery.
"This could cause a fire.
It is clear that if you buy lithium batteries from a respectable company, they are fully tested and safe with a failure rate of 10 m.
But Captain Cox said there might be three.
The 5bn battery of the previous year.
As I reported in 2014, only one person is required to make a mistake and they will be surprised.
There are also "gray market" batteries and chargers that some people buy cheaply.
They may not have been tested for safety at all.
Modern aircraft have smoke detectors, but there are only automatic fire extinguishers in the cargo compartment.
Otherwise, it depends on the crew using the hand
Carry a fire extinguisher.
For example, there is one in each toilet bin.
A recent paper
Captain Cox wrote that experience has shown that many fires start from "places that cannot be reached --
Where the crew may not be able to reach.
He also pointed out that the FAA recently said that you will never be able to eradicate all the ignition sources on the aircraft.
Captain Cox once flew the A320 and said it was a great plane.
He never heard of a major fire in the front right of the plane.
It has been flying in various forms since the end of 1980.
Many airlines are now training staff on how to deal with lithium battery fires.
I would like to stress again that we do not know what caused the crash of the Egyptian Airlines passenger plane.
This could be an accident.
It could be even more sinister.
But the plane fire was a problem, and Captain Cox called on the industry to take more steps to address it.