Spirit Airlines flight 259 from Dallas to Orlando diverted to Jacksonville, Florida on Wednesday afternoon as smoked filled the cabin of the aircraft when the battery of a passenger’s electronic device caught fire in an overhead bin. Once on the ground, 10 passengers and crew were hospitalized.
Smoke also reportedly filled the cockpit. A retired fireman assisted cabin crew in dousing the flames. Meanwhile, air traffic control gave the flight’s captain a direct routing to get on the ground.
We are safe after a scary fire broke out during our @SpiritAirlines flight. We made a quick decent and emergency landing into Jacksonville. After waiting for over an hour they grounded the plane and we had to find our own way to Orlando. All rental cars were sold out. $250 uber pic.twitter.com/miFrR2bPKq
— Joseph Fleck (@nottajshow) March 1, 2023
— Joseph Fleck (@nottajshow) March 1, 2023
Firefighters boarded the aircraft once it landed in Jacksonville, though passengers and crew had long since extinguished the fire.
— Joseph Fleck (@nottajshow) March 1, 2023
Events like this are not common, but also aren’t unheard of. Here’s an Aeroflot flight wheree a phone charger caught fire.
And here’s a power brick fire in the overhead bin of a China Southern flight. A flight attendant doused it with water.
Power bank fire on board China Southern CZ3539, Feb 25 2018.😱😱 pic.twitter.com/cby6E62qRv
— ChinaAviationReview (@ChinaAvReview) February 25, 2018
Electronics fires are usually fully manageable when they occur inside the passenger cabin of an aircraft, but not as manageable when they occur inside the cargo hold of a plane. That’s why a generation of ‘smart’ suitcases were been banned even as carry on bags, since there’s always the chance a carry on with an un-removable battery might have to be checked.
As a result of the risk of an electronics fire, U.S. airlines board fire containment bags and heat resistant gloves on aircraft. That way when electronic devices catch fire they can deal with it. Once the electronics that caught fire is isolated, the fire containment bag gets stored in a metal cart in the galley, to be retrieved when the aircraft lands.
This is why it was such a dangerous idea when the federal government sought to ban electronics in the passenger cabin in 2017, requiring customers to check them as baggage instead. Those fires might not get contained.
Of course Spirit screwed them all and left them stranded So typical
Typo: It probably caught fire instead of catching figure.
Spirit Airlines on an Floriduuuuh intrastate flight???
Shocking…what with such a quality airline and the stellar customer base that Spirit attracts.
Hey Gary, you still think getting involved in the Spirit FF program is a good idea?
@Tom K – from the post (1st line) “Spirit Airlines flight 259 from Dallas to Orlando diverted to Jacksonville, Florida”
“Top 10 things I just LOVE about the Free Spirit® Travel More World Elite Mastercard®”
Daughter and I are both underwater photographers. We travel with 5-6 cameras and crap ton of batteries for cameras, lights, gear, etc.
Our batteries are carried in a Lipo bag just for this possibility. Many times our phones and power banks are in there as well.
They are packed so they can’t strike against each other as well.
They should have bussed them to Orlando..as TPC is in Jax so all rental cars are gone…
@Patti, You may wish to take a look at this evaluation of lipo bags: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tavpXgmL16M
This was released in 2018, but I doubt things have improved significantly. Lithium batteries have a significant amount of energy stored, and when they decide to immediately release that energy, it has to be absorbed by something to minimize the temperature gain and to prevent setting other things on fire. There is no effective way to capture the volume of gas released, at best, it can be cooled and possibly filtered. One compound which might also help is sold as a heat-blocking putty for welding. One example is Wetrag from Refrigeration Technology. Still, this only absorbs heat, and has a limited capacity for absorbing heat before it also gets too hot. It would need to be matched between it’s heat-absorbing capacity, and the energy in the battery.