# New In Flight Battery In Baggage Rules



## MrFSS (Jan 7, 2008)

> *The US Department of Transportation has announced new safety rules relating to the storage of rechargeable Lithium batteries when flying to, from and within the USA. The new restrictions, effective from January 1st 2008, dictate that loose Lithium cells may not be packed in checked baggage under any circumstances - batteries installed in equipment are unaffected. Carry-on baggage may contain up to two loose batteries but only if there is no possibility of short-circuit, containing them individually within simple plastic bags or their original packaging is sufficient to prevent this and will satisfy inspectors. Click through for the DOT press release.*


Full article is *HERE*.


----------



## George Harris (Jan 7, 2008)

I am afraid to ask how silly can we get, because of what the answer might be.


----------



## PRR 60 (Jan 7, 2008)

George Harris said:


> I am afraid to ask how silly can we get, because of what the answer might be.


In this case, the restrictions are not silly at all. Lithium batteries, when shorted, result in a very hot and very difficult to extinguish fire. This ruling, which comes from the NTSB, was adopted by the FAA, and is being enforced by the TSA. It is the result of the investigation of a fire and aircraft loss of a UPS DC-8 freighter at PHL in February 2006. The cause of that fire is suspected to be a shorted lithium battery. The crew of that aircraft was lucky to have escaped alive. The aircraft burned for four hours. Several other fires have occurred with lithium batteries in aircraft.

The restrictions seem pretty reasonable. Batteries installed in devices are OK. Spare batteries carried on are OK provided they are contained in such a way that the contacts cannot be shorted. But loose lithium batteries may not packed in checked luggage.

See the NTSB Safety Recommendation HERE.

See the DOT rule HERE.


----------



## AmtrakWPK (Jan 8, 2008)

In the past few years there have been quite a number of Lithium Ion Battery recalls, and a disturbing number of laptop computers have basically exploded because of catastrophic battery failure. There aren't many things scarier for a pilot than an in-flight fire. You can't just open the doors and get out at 30,000 feet, and you can't open windows to get breathable air, either, on an airliner at altitude. Even for small planes, which fly at lower altitudes, aren't pressurized, and can land pretty quickly, the prospect of an in-flight fire is terrifying. There is no place to escape to. I do have several hundred hours of pilot-in-command flight time, and an in-flight fire is something you train for and then pray it never happens. Lithium cells are wonderful in terms of how much energy they can store for a given volume and weight. Unfortunately, the more energy you have stored in a given space, the more havoc happens if it is catastrophically released, either by an accidental external-to-the-cell short circuit, or an internal failure in the cell.


----------

