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CBSnews t1_j7m7085 wrote

Here's a preview of our article:

A small fire on a United Airlines flight bound for Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey forced the plane to return to San Diego International Airport shortly after takeoff.

The Boeing 737 returned to the California airport around 7:30 a.m. Pacific time after the flight's crew "reported a laptop on fire in the cabin," according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The San Diego Fire Department told CBS News in a statement that the cause of the fire was an "external battery pack." United said in a statement that the battery pack "ignited," but it was not clear why the device caught fire.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/united-airlines-flight-battery-fire-san-diego/

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MausBomb t1_j7n0rol wrote

Things maintained well almost never catch fire for no reason, but the amount of people who still try to use a battery that they have dropped several times, left in the washer at least once, and then use a cable with exposed wiring makes me wonder why there aren't more battery fires out there.

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SidewaysFancyPrance t1_j7nfwxy wrote

This is why they don't allow any lithium batteries in checked baggage anymore - too dangerous. If this had happened in the cargo hold, that could have taken down the whole plane. They need to be in the cabin as carry-on where a fire could be detected and addressed quickly (like in this case).

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pineapplepredator t1_j7pe3gv wrote

I didn’t know this about dropping the batteries. I’ve also never used an external battery for my laptop. But makes me wonder about my external battery for my phone that I take everywhere.

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theory_until t1_j7q7mav wrote

Might be a good idea to keep these things in battery bags.

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needabiggerhammer t1_j7qbvd3 wrote

If it starts getting warmer than when new during charging or usage replace it. Or if it ever, even brand new, gets to "that's pretty warm (before hot)".

I'm lazy though so I just replace things like that yearly. They aren't expensive. In theory you should get a few thousand charge cycles so that is overkill, but I like the piece of mind.

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5zepp t1_j7v7cba wrote

Sure, but the sheer number of super low quality chinese vape pens and batteries makes me wonder why there aren't more fires in general. I do have a buddy whose apartment had a major fire stated by someone's vape pen left charging too long.

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Tvmouth t1_j7m857i wrote

Details on the device will be interesting.

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sfbiker999 t1_j7n68o8 wrote

I hope they release the name brand and model number. I'm curious whether it's a major brand or a generic Chinese brand.

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David_denison t1_j7mq52g wrote

They make a bag designed to contain a laptop that’s on fire and a glove to put it in the bag. I think this safety equipment should be required on planes

Edit I should have read the article before committing the first thing that popped in my head

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gathaway t1_j7n27d6 wrote

"Flight crew put the burning object in a fire bag to prevent the fire from spreading, the department said. The fire did not spread to the plane."

From the article.

All planes are required to have these bags for every flight.

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SideburnSundays t1_j7mynnj wrote

CEO - “Best I can do is removing a safety check from the checklists and an increase in my bonus.”

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DarkSideMoon t1_j7oblwa wrote

They literally used one of those bags to isolate the fire. The feds don’t require them. This is a perfect example of spending the money necessary on safety by choice.

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Icewear_Daddy OP t1_j7n9gei wrote

I looked it up, those bags cost between $600-$1000...

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Idolmistress t1_j7n61qx wrote

A shitty Chinese aftermarket battery probably exploded.

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PedroEglasias t1_j7p8de9 wrote

Lol the official ones combust too, happened with a fair few Samsung's and they come from south korea

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Reasonable_Ticket_84 t1_j7pss1z wrote

>s and they come from south korea

The Note 7 batteries that famously caught fire were manufactured in China by Amperex. Samsung actually outsourced it. Rumor is Samsung was partially at fault because they pressured for a capacity increase in the battery late in the process.

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TimTom8921 t1_j7prxca wrote

Dude forgot to take his mixtape out

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[deleted] t1_j7nbbth wrote

[deleted]

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OsmeOxys t1_j7npb2q wrote

Shit happens, and its not worth destroying lives over that. Airline gets people to where they need to be and people carry on.

Now if they took a clearly defective (puffy) battery on board, we could have that discussion, but there's no point in getting angry at someone who cant realistically prevent said shit from happening.

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Krewtan t1_j7nsqvy wrote

Won't someone think of the airlines?

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NewKitchenFixtures t1_j7nwwlm wrote

Even a “good” battery can develop an internal short circuit from dendrite growth.

You could require the more resilient chemistries (but ones like iron phosphate output even worse gases). But this isn’t something you can 100% fix right now.

I don’t know if Samsung still x-rays phone batteries even.

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chilldabpanda t1_j7noobz wrote

Why do I feel like united has become the "carnival cruise" of the air?

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2lovesFL t1_j7ntw90 wrote

I thought they kept a bucket of water for this type of 'fire'

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Abstinence701 t1_j7nxk97 wrote

Yeah, water and electrical fire, traditionally great mix. Like smoking and fuel tanks , or ammonia and bleach.

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biggsteve81 t1_j7nytps wrote

The general procedure for most lithium battery fires is to submerge them in water, believe it or not.

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Abstinence701 t1_j7o01ge wrote

I didn’t know. Wouldn’t that be dangerous though? You’d have to pick up the burning thing and place it in water.

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biggsteve81 t1_j7o0fby wrote

How else do you plan to extinguish it? A regular ABC fire extinguisher is not very effective on lithium battery fires, and they can be quite persistent. That's why fire departments often use thousands of gallons of water on an EV battery fire.

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spirituallyinsane t1_j7qlawi wrote

The "fire" is largely a heat problem. The battery is typically already short-circuited internally, which causes it to heat up. This results in boiling and vaporizing internal electrolyte, which catches fire in air. Dunking it in water primarily cools the battery to stop this process. It also short-circuits it to some extent, but the water absorbs the energy of that short circuit effectively.

Lithium-ion batteries contain a lot of energy for their size, but it's nothing like the energy available from household power circuits, which as you say, don't mix well with water.

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nassy23 t1_j7m3z4i wrote

Didn’t they just get “fined” $1 million by the FAA for bypassing the pre-flight safety check for fire warnings?

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PM_ME_KITTYNIPPLES t1_j7m93f7 wrote

This one sounds like it was just a passenger's laptop that blew its battery.

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nassy23 t1_j7m9qjo wrote

Ahhh! Thank you. I need to go back to school and learn to read because I actually did read the article.

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biggsteve81 t1_j7nyo99 wrote

That was on the 777, this was a 737. And supposedly the aircraft automatically performs the pre-flight check and the FAA signed off on their checklist that omitted it.

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