FAA bans recalled mid-2015 MBPr from flights

[Slydude]

I get the logic but it strikes me as a bit faulty. The whole thing seems to be based on the following assumptions:
1. The user of said notebook will have it close to hand where potential problems will be noticed right away.
2. Someone aboard will know what to do. Water aint gonna do it (hint, hint).

 

[krs]

Well, there are other things on board that could cause a fire, I'm sure the crew has been trained to handle that type of emergency - I sure hope so.

What's the alternative - ban MacBooks of all types completely, or maybe all laptops since they all have Lithium batteries in them.
That's going to go over really well.

 

[MacInWin]

The real stupidity in this is that the FAA gave no guidance on how to determine which MacBook Pros were banned. So some airlines went the "all MacBook" approach because they don't know anything about them, either. And nothing from the FAA said anything about the Apple website where the status could be checked. I can't blame the airlines for being over cautious, but the FAA had their head up their a** when then made the advisory.

 

[pm-r]

Sly, I guess they think if it breaks into fire in the cabin they can somehow handle it. Maybe buckets of water?

No, not really!! Google says so...

Water should not be used on any lithium fire because pouring water on a lithium battery fire can make it more difficult to extinguish it because of the reduction of lithium in water, which leads to the release of hydrogen, which is highly flammable; the potential of reigniting a fire is much greater when using water.

What do you do when a lithium battery catches on fire?
If a Class D extinguisher is not available, douse a lithium-metal fire with water to prevent the fire from spreading. For best results dowsing a Li-ion fire, use a foam extinguisher, CO2, ABC dry chemical, powdered graphite, copper powder or soda (sodium carbonate) as you would extinguish other combustible fires.

Just in case it happens anywhere!!!

And nothing from the FAA said anything about the Apple website where the status could be checked. I can't blame the airlines for being over cautious, but the FAA had their head up their a** when then made the advisory.

Isn't that the standard reaction these days...??? JUST PASS THE BUCK>>>... then pickup one's pay cheque...!!!


- Patrick
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[chscag]

If you want to know how dangerous Li-ion (Lithium) batteries can be.....

Some years ago (and this has been documented by the NTSB and FAA) a FedEx 747 cargo jet was flying out of the Middle East with a load of Lithium batteries in the cargo hold. The batteries caught fire, the smoke overcame the flight crew, and eventually brought down the aircraft along with the crew.

And by the way, the crew received the fire warning in the cockpit but could do nothing about putting it out. The fire destroyed critical components involving the flight controls which led to the crew not being able to control the aircraft and were overcome by smoke.

 

[pm-r]

I wonder if or when they might get zinc air rechargeable batteries to a practical state that should eliminate all the problems associated with the lithium-based batteries, and provide much longer battery life, and then one can probably look back on this Lithium battery era as a "remember when" situation.

The Challenges of Zinc Air Batteries
The Challenges of Zinc Air Batteries | Design News

If you want to know how dangerous Li-ion (Lithium) batteries can be.....

A closer to home situation is watching videos of a fire department trying to extinguish the fire caused by an electric vehicle and it's lithium based battery. Even their exotic foams have a hard time just controlling the flames and heat. There's a lot of potential energy stored in those batteries!!!



- Patrick
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