First, it has taken much too long for the International Civil Aviation Organization to accept that air shipment of lithium ion batteries is a very risky practice, both to those on the airplane and to those over whom it flies (ASW, 3/16). There are enough examples of lithium ion battery fires — in personal items and mass-packaged cargo shipments — to put to rest any question about how dangerous they are.
As a recently retired McDonnell Douglas MD-11 pilot, I am certain I carried pallets of these things, generally without knowing they were on board. At least U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rules now require informing the crews they are on board.
Second, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB’s) recommendations include that operators consider “the capability of the crew to fight an in-flight lithium battery fire.”
There are a few things wrong here:
For one,…
