KimBrown said:
I'd forgotten about the Boeing problem.... Did they change the type of batteries they used in the end, or was it a charging problem.....
As Paddy would say......
Ya wouldn't have thought those little batteries would turn them big jet engines....... lol
Heh heh.
Some info :-
The fire in the 777 cabin was due to the crushing of a lithium battery that fell into a seat mechanism. The crushing caused an internal short-circuit and overheating that caused the fire.
Turning off the video system electrical power supply before any other action was an effective protection against the risks associated with the many items of equipment installed in the seats.
The cabin crew member then put out the fire by reflex by throwing water onto the flames. Throwing the water put out the flames and cooled the damaged battery. Nevertheless, this could have revived the fire and made its extinction more difficult, due to the release of hydrogen generated by the reduction of lithium in the water.
The new procedure put in place by Air France that recommended initial use of halon resolved this difficulty but implied the emission of a potentially noxious gas that is bad for health. Its use in the cockpit could clearly be dangerous.
In the United States, the FAA recommends a slightly different procedure: it suggests turning off the electrical power supply, putting out the flames with halon or water, then cooling the device in order to stop internal reactions.
No procedure has been universally established to contain this type of fire in the cabin or the cockpit.
4 - RECOMMENDATION
Note: In accordance with Article 17.3 of European Regulation (EU) 996/2010 of the European Parliament and Council of 20 October 2010 on the investigation and prevention of accidents and incidents in civil aviation, a safety recommendation shall in no case create a presumption of blame or liability for an accident, a serious incident or an incident. The addressee of a safety recommendation shall inform the safety investigation authority which issued the recommendation of the actions taken or under consideration, under the conditions described in Article 18 of the aforementioned Regulation.
Many studies are currently under way on the danger relating to transporting the various types of lithium batteries in cargo holds. Nevertheless, the danger represented by transporting them in the cabin has not been taken into account.
Faced with a lithium battery fire, actions to extinguish the flames then to cool the components are required to stop any internal reaction. There is no consensus on the procedure to apply, specifically on the use of water during extinction of the flames.