Plane Fires Prompt Battery Safeguards - Wall Street Journal
U.S. regulators are devising various ways to crack down on air-cargo shipments of computers, cellphones and other electronic devices that contain lithium ion batteries, despite stiff opposition from some of the biggest makers of those products.
Prompted by the recent fiery crash of a UPS Boeing 747 cargo jet filled with electronic goods, officials at the Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration have been working on enhanced protections against the flammability of rechargeable batteries, said people familiar with the matter.
United Parcel Service Inc. officials have declined to comment on details of the accident, whether batteries were involved in the onboard fire, or the need for tighter safeguards.
At least one major cargo carrier, FedEx Corp., has committed to voluntarily equip more than 95 of its long-range, wide-body planes that fly oceanic routes with fire-suppression systems.
U.S. regulators are devising various ways to crack down on air-cargo shipments of computers, cellphones and other electronic devices that contain lithium ion batteries, despite stiff opposition from some of the biggest makers of those products.
Prompted by the recent fiery crash of a UPS Boeing 747 cargo jet filled with electronic goods, officials at the Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration have been working on enhanced protections against the flammability of rechargeable batteries, said people familiar with the matter.
United Parcel Service Inc. officials have declined to comment on details of the accident, whether batteries were involved in the onboard fire, or the need for tighter safeguards.
At least one major cargo carrier, FedEx Corp., has committed to voluntarily equip more than 95 of its long-range, wide-body planes that fly oceanic routes with fire-suppression systems.
