The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) could implement ban on laptops from checked baggage due to a fire risk under a proposal being introduced by a global air safety panel.
The ICAO (Canada-based UN organization) will decide the possibility of laptops ban at its meeting later this month, according to CNN. It is up to the aviation regulators in individual nations to enforce the ban rules even if the ICAO implements the rules.
According to the panel’s proposal, an overheating laptop battery could cause a significant blaze in a cargo hold that firefighting equipment aboard the plane would not be able to extinguish which could “lead to the loss of the aircraft”.
The regulatory bodies like US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have not disclosed any opinions towards the approach made by ICAO. It is found that the lithium batteries increase the probability of fir hazard on aircraft.
There have been studies on the risk of fires on planes posed by lithium batteries going back years. In 2015 US airlines banned hoverboards from their planes due to concerns about the fire risk posed by their lithium batteries.
The fear that terrorists could try to hide explosives in laptops prompted the US Department of Homeland Security to ban laptops from the cabin of planes coming from certain international airports earlier this year.
However, those rules banning laptops from cabins have been removed for most of those airports due to new screening procedures.
Recently, an incident occurred on Oct. 20 this year in which Jet Airways’ Indore-Delhi flight caught fire mid-air from a mobile phone kept in a passenger’s handbag. As the cabin started filling with fumes, the 80 passengers started panicking. However, the flight’s crew managed to subdue them.
In a statement, the airline said. “The Jet Airways crew (took) all necessary precautionary measures as per the prescribed guidelines. The mobile device was taken into custody for further investigations. There was no injury to guests or crew or (damage to) any part of the cabin. The aircraft landing was safe and uneventful.”
With the increased risk of developing fire via electronic devices, ICAO has come up with the plan to ban laptops but the decision is yet to be finalized.
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