Emergency Evacuation on American Airlines Flight Due to Laptop Battery Fire
TapTechNews July 15th news, there was a dramatic emergency evacuation incident on American Airlines flight 2045 on Friday, which was caused by the battery of a passenger's laptop catching fire and emitting smoke. At that time, the flight was about to take off from San Francisco to Miami, and suddenly the cabin was filled with smoke, and the source of the smoke was the laptop bag of the rear passenger. Since the plane was still on the tarmac at that time, passengers were safely evacuated through the boarding bridge and inflatable slide, and only three people were slightly injured during the evacuation process, but one of them needed further treatment.
According to CBS News, American Airlines said in a statement that the crew quickly removed the burning bag and all passengers safely left the plane. The airline apologized for the inconvenience caused and thanked the staff for handling the incident very professionally. As can be seen from the videos posted on social media, the passengers were nervous at that time, and some passengers insisted on getting their luggage before evacuating, resulting in a slower evacuation speed. In the video taken by passengers in the cabin, the crew can be heard asking not to take luggage and leave the plane immediately.
It is still not clear the specific model of the laptop that caught fire and the reason for the battery fire. According to TapTechNews, the current US airline regulations stipulate that passengers' laptops can only be carried in carry-on luggage, and the rated capacity of lithium batteries must not exceed 100 watt-hours. Therefore, many workstation-level laptops use 99-watt-hour batteries. With the approval of the airline, passengers can also carry up to two spare batteries with a rated capacity of no more than 160 watt-hours.
These regulations limiting battery capacity started in the late 2000 s, when people gradually realized the dangers brought about by the pursuit of large-capacity and high-energy-density batteries. In the past few decades, lithium batteries (such as those used in smartphones, tablets, portable game consoles, and laptops) have been the culprit of many technical equipment failures.
According to CBS News, a passenger speculated the reason for the laptop fire: If the device doesn't fully go into sleep mode but continues to run, sometimes they do get really hot.