[AMcWhirter]

Fortunately this incident happened on the ground.

The smartphones were about to be loaded onto a Hong Kong Air cargo flight.

Pallet full of smartphones catches fire on the apron at Hong Kong Airport. It's unknown if the cargo had already arrived or due to depart. No injuries reported. https://t.co/FDtGSh5sxd pic.twitter.com/Y8ftAQ2u0E

— Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@breakingavnews) April 11, 2021

[cwoodward]

In all 3 pallets ignited.
They were about to depart and to me the incident is very concerning as these LI batteries should be discharged prior to being transported by air, often in the hold passenger flights. It seems however that some purveyors of these phones have been routinely charging them to 40% capacity which is not only against (I am told) all relevant regulations but of course extremely dangerous.

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jsn55, Switzerlanding

[philsquares]

Bulk shipment of LI batteries are prohibited on passenger flights. They are permissible on cargo only flights with associated restrictions.

The LI phones were banned under ICAO rules in April 2016.

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jsn55

[AMcWhirter]

In 2020 an Ethiopian Airlines B777 caught fire on the ground at Shanghai.

I believe the results of the investigation are not yet available.

Theloadstar.com notes that, according to a source, “there were three pallets of lithium batteries listed on the manifest, for loading in China for export.”

It also notes there have been problems on (lithium batteries) their carriage owing to undeclared counterfeit batteries, poor packaging and mis-declared batteries.

Latest freighter fire prompts new questions on lithium battery safety

This video from Africa News

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jsn55, cwoodward

[alainboy56]

Have we all forgotten the sad incident of a UPS B744 out of DXB just a few years back that had a fire in the hold and turned around somewhere near BAH never to arrive, flying straight over DXB and crashing beyond Silicone Oasis killing the crew.
That was, I believe, due to Li-On batteries, if I’m not mistaken.

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No Name

[AMcWhirter]

Yes I had forgotten about that alainboy56

It was a cargo flight from Dubai to Cologne.

Here’s a detailed report from local media which linked the onboard fire to lithium batteries

https://www.emirates247.com/news/emirates/ups-dubai-crash-gcaa-final-report-links-accident-to-lithium-batteries-2013-07-25-1.515438

[William]

This was also thought to be one of the causes of the still missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 flight

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jsn55

[cwoodward]

William, Perhaps adding the word ‘possible’ to the above would add context.

[Author]

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