So why keep it next to the passengers?

Transcript

1. There's something in your bag that can make a pilot land the plane.
2. And the rules say it has to stay with you, never in the hold.
3. So why keep it next to the passengers?
4. On Saturday night, it happened on a Lufthansa flight to Lisbon.
5. A power bank caught fire at a seat.
6. The crew sealed it in a fireproof bag.
7. The pilots declared an emergency and landed in Lyon.
8. Nobody was hurt.
9. A power bank holds a few battery cells.
10. A damaged or faulty cell can start heating itself,
11. and the heat makes more heat.
12. US government tests found this starts at about 200°C, and can pass 700°C.
13. That can set off the cell beside it.
14. And then the next one.
15. A gas extinguisher can knock down the flames, but the chain keeps going.
16. Stopping it takes lots of water.
17. Someone has to be close enough to pour it.
18. In the cabin, someone can.
19. In the hold, under the floor, nobody can.
20. Its gas extinguisher can't stop the chain either.
21. That's why power banks are banned from checked bags.
22. But being in the cabin isn't always enough.
23. Last year in South Korea, an Air Busan jet burned out on the ground.
24. Investigators say the likely cause was a power bank in an overhead bin.
25. Everyone got out.
26. Since then, the rules have been moving it closer to you.
27. Lufthansa now bans power banks from overhead bins:
28. seat pocket, under the seat, or on you.
29. Last year, America's aviation regulator verified 97 lithium battery incidents
30. on planes and in air cargo.
31. That's about twice as many as in 2017.
32. In Europe, the law says Saturday's fire must be reported.
33. The EU's aviation agency says those reports are rising.
34. It doesn't publish how many.
35. Germany publishes a yearly count of laser attacks on planes.
36. Batteries aren't on the list.