« Validity and reality | Main | Stats notes »

August 15, 2006

Batteries, short-circuits, aircraft

Batteries, short-circuits, aircraft: Could become significant. If lithium-ion batteries short-circuit while mid-flight, the results could be very bad. I've seen no proposed legislation yet, much less new flight offerings from airlines ("special no-battery flights!", eg), but it could be a hot issue, pitting the question of degrees of safety against the wide range of battery-powered devices we like to carry these days.

Posted by JohnDowdell at August 15, 2006 10:30 PM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://weblogs.macromedia.com/mtadmin/mt-tb.cgi/7666

Comments

Story has been getting more coverage the last few days... CNET explains the situation plainly, then presents a number of upcoming lithium-ion alternatives.

Some possible paths:
-- replacement of more business travel with remote conferencing;
-- increased reliance on "in the cloud" services, so that you can rent a computer on arrival and still access your data;
-- battery concessions at airports, so that devices (but not their power) can travel by airplane;
-- hardened storage areas in planes and increased in-seat services.

Ultraviolet lights in airplanes seem like they'd reduce disease transmission too, if any Aircraft Overlord Gods happen to be listening to me here.... ;-)

Posted by: John Dowdell at August 16, 2006 09:37 PM