Photo: AAIB
Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 has its very own place in tech industry books, not necessarily because it was a groundbreaking product but due to its batteries catching fire all of a sudden.
While Samsung eventually decided to pull all Note 7 units from the market, giving up on the model entirely, fears that electronics could burst into flames for no clear reason are still around these days.
And as it turns out, it happens for a good reason, as some devices, regardless of the brand, model, or age, can still catch fire in the worst possible moments.
That is what happened on a British Airways Boeing 787 last fall, with an investigation conducted by UK’s Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) finalized this week revealing that an iPhone burst into flames while the aircraft was descending towards Heathrow.
The official report indicates that nobody was injured, and the plane didn’t suffer any damages, though it does acknowledge the phone started emitting smoke while plugged in and placed on a passenger seat.
It happened on September 30 when a Boeing 787-9 operated by British Airways was traveling from Miami to London. The first-class cabin crew spotted a charging cable connected to a device placed on the side of the seat, and the report indicated that a smell similar to sulfur was immediately noticed.
When the senior cabin crew arrived to look into what happened, the phone produced a hissing sound and then emitted a “large plume of grey smoke in a tornado motion,” as per the official documents. The crew members claim they noticed “an orange glow in the seat area amongst the smoke” just before they picked up a fire extinguisher to put out the fire.
The cabin crew reached out to the pilots, who started the emergency checklist, while other staff members filled an ice bucket with water to throw on the device. Eventually, the smoke dissipated and what’s being described as “an acrid odor” on the flight deck went away, so the commander decided to continue to Heathrow.
Upon further investigation, it was discovered that the device that started the fire was an iPhone—it appears to be a special-edition (PRODUCT)RED iPhone 8—that burst into flames because of overheating lithium batteries and structural deformation caused by the seat mechanism.
And as it turns out, it happens for a good reason, as some devices, regardless of the brand, model, or age, can still catch fire in the worst possible moments.
That is what happened on a British Airways Boeing 787 last fall, with an investigation conducted by UK’s Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) finalized this week revealing that an iPhone burst into flames while the aircraft was descending towards Heathrow.
The official report indicates that nobody was injured, and the plane didn’t suffer any damages, though it does acknowledge the phone started emitting smoke while plugged in and placed on a passenger seat.
It happened on September 30 when a Boeing 787-9 operated by British Airways was traveling from Miami to London. The first-class cabin crew spotted a charging cable connected to a device placed on the side of the seat, and the report indicated that a smell similar to sulfur was immediately noticed.
When the senior cabin crew arrived to look into what happened, the phone produced a hissing sound and then emitted a “large plume of grey smoke in a tornado motion,” as per the official documents. The crew members claim they noticed “an orange glow in the seat area amongst the smoke” just before they picked up a fire extinguisher to put out the fire.
The cabin crew reached out to the pilots, who started the emergency checklist, while other staff members filled an ice bucket with water to throw on the device. Eventually, the smoke dissipated and what’s being described as “an acrid odor” on the flight deck went away, so the commander decided to continue to Heathrow.
Upon further investigation, it was discovered that the device that started the fire was an iPhone—it appears to be a special-edition (PRODUCT)RED iPhone 8—that burst into flames because of overheating lithium batteries and structural deformation caused by the seat mechanism.
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