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US Bars Lithium-ion Batteries From Passenger Aircraft Cargo (cnet.com)

Posted by msmash on from the greater-good dept.

The U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration have issued new rules designed to protect air passengers from the potential dangers of lithium ion batteries. From a report: The new Transportation Department rules come after Congress last year directed the agency to adopt the new rules. The new restriction doesn't apply to passengers or crew bringing electronics aboard aircraft. "This rule will strengthen safety for the traveling public by addressing the unique challenges lithium batteries pose in transportation," US Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao said in a statement. In the past couple of years, the use of lithium-ion batteries has been linked to fires and spewing smoke in a slew of products, including Samsung's now-canceled Galaxy Note 7, hoverboards and Boeing's 787 Dreamliner.

5 of 135 comments (clear)

  1. Shame... by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The proper response would have been to ban all Li-Ion batteries from passenger aircraft holds and cargo aircraft. This would have forced manufacturers to air-ship phones and laptops without batteries. With any luck, this would have encouraged the development of standardized, user installable batteries for electronics that would have ground-shipped to brick-and-mortar places and been readily available for sale.

    Sadly, no one has the balls to disrupt the disposable device cartels.

    1. Re:Shame... by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Given it doesn't apply to carry-on baggage, I'm not sure safety is the point either.

      A fire in the cargo hold is difficult to detect and contain.

      A fire in a passenger's pocket or backpack is immediately obvious and can be quickly isolated and extinguished by crew members.

  2. Um. . . . ok by nehumanuscrede · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So I'm curious how this is going to work when I bring my Camera bag ( Think Tank Glass Limo ) with me as a carry-on and the flight attendant tells me there isn't any room and I will need to check my bag. Batteries already installed in the camera bodies should be fine, but I'm curious how they'll deal with the spares I carry. Typically, one spare per camera body.

    Not that I'm about to check my camera gear. I'll deplane before I do so since the airline will refuse to reimburse me for the $15k+ worth of gear in said bag when one of their thugs . . . . er ' baggage handlers ' helps themselves to the contents or bounces it off the pavement.

    I suppose, under the new rules, I can just tell the flight attendant that my bag contains fully charged Li-Ion batteries and cannot be checked ?

    This should be fun :|

  3. news for nerds with limited reading comprehension by sunking2 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Passenger flights often allocate some of their space for regular air cargo. This isn't about banning your computer or camera from being in your luggage. Luggage hold is not cargo hold. What they are avoiding is a passenger plane being used to ferry batteries as a cargo carrier where you could have a box of dozens of them in a confined space. I don't have an issue with this.

  4. Original announcement by Walter+White · · Score: 4, Informative

    For those who would prefer to see the actual announcement rather than discussion of it on an add ridden site with auto-play video you can go to
    https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/news...