Delta Air Lines Flight 1334 from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale diverted to Fort Myers on Monday due to a fire onboard. The airline states that a portable power bank (battery pack) caught fire while airborne, and flight attendants were able to extinguish it quickly.
The aircraft involved was N659DL, a 35-year-old Boeing 757. The flight was declared an emergency during the latter half of the flight and diverted, as seen in the Flightradar24 image below.
After diverting to Fort Myers, N659DL was able to continue on to Fort Lauderdale and complete Flight 1334. The aircraft has since completed three flights and is not scheduled to undergo additional inspections or maintenance.
“We appreciate the quick work and actions by our people to follow their training, and we apologize to our customers for the delay in their travels,” said the airline in a statement.
According to FAA data, there were 34 incidents involving lithium-ion batteries from January through the end of May this year. 11 of them involved power banks, while an additional 11 involved cellphones.
Just a few days ago, I had written about the growing concerns and implementations of strict rules around the world regarding portable power banks. Back in January, an Air Busan flight caught fire and left 7 injured. After the investigation suggested the fire had been caused by a power bank in the overhead bin, many airlines in Asia chose to revise their rules, with several airlines and regions outright banning the use of them onboard.
Some others, such as airlines in Japan, have required passengers to keep them within sight and not in the overhead bins.
Most US airlines haven’t taken such measures yet, but this diversion, coupled with the vast increase in lithium-ion battery incidents around the country, may force some airlines to take similar measures. The FAA is investigating the incident.
Featured image by the author.
Odd that this keeps happening in increasing numbers. It would be interesting to know how many power banks and phones were actually in use when they caught fire. Another salient point would be the breakdown by manufacturer. If half the incidents are from a certain company then that company needs more scrutiny. Also I’d say that this reinforces the need for onboard power supplies on flights.