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Flight MH370 Carried large consignment of lithium-ion batteries — Parallax Forums

Flight MH370 Carried large consignment of lithium-ion batteries

Ron CzapalaRon Czapala Posts: 2,418
edited 2014-05-14 11:24 in General Discussion
http://news.yahoo.com/mh370-carried-440-pounds-danger-224000552--politics.html
The presence of the batteries was admitted by the Malaysians only two weeks after the flight vanished.

The consignment weighed 440 pounds. Even if half of that weight represented the packaging material, it was still a significant number of batteries.

The lithium-ion batteries that caused the grounding last year of the entire Boeing 787 fleet weigh 60 pounds on each plane.

As Dr. Victor Ettel, a leading authority on the risks of lithium-ion technology pointed out to me, the batteries in the cargo of Flight 370 had
“several times more Li-battery firepower” than those on the 787.

Comments

  • evanhevanh Posts: 15,927
    edited 2014-05-02 15:27
    More specifically, Lithium-Cobolt variants are the unstable ones. Lithium-Phosphate variants are far more stable.
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2014-05-03 05:10
    The batteries on the 787 were in active use. Being shipped in transit packaging is an entirely different sort of problem. And the chemistry of those on the MH370 could be entirely different.

    KUALA LUMPUR, May 2 (Xinhua) -- The missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 was carrying 4.566 tons of mangosteens and 200 pieces of lithium ion batteries weighing about 2.453 tons, according to the preliminary investigation report.
    The plane's full cargo manifest was released by the Ministry of Transportation Thursday night as part of the preliminary probe into the plane that went missing on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in the early hours of March 8.
    The batteries in the cargo hold of the missing flight MH370 were non-hazardous, and its transportation complies with standards set by international aviation authorities, Malaysia Airlines chief executive officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahaya told reporters.
    For the batteries, the cargo manifest came with an instruction that it should be handled with care and that flammability hazards exist.
    The manifest revealed that the batteries were from NNR Global Logistics (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Penang. "The package was meant for NNR Global Logistics (Beijing) Co Ltd but a company named JHJ International Transportation Co Ltd, Beijing Branch, was to collect the cargo on its behalf."
    On the seating plan, 10 people were seated in the Business Class section of the flight, according to the preliminary report drafted by the international investigation team.
    Among them were three Chinese nationals, three Malaysians, two Canadians, a New Zealander and a Russian. The rest of the 217 passengers were seated in Economy Class.
    133304942_13990036781471n.jpg
  • Ron CzapalaRon Czapala Posts: 2,418
    edited 2014-05-03 05:31
    Loopy Byteloose wrote: »
    The batteries on the 787 were in active use. Being shipped in transit packaging is an entirely different sort of problem. And the chemistry of those on the MH370 could be entirely different.

    They don't have to be in active use to cause a problem. The UPS plane that crashed in Dubai was due to batteries in the cargo hold.

    http://bigstory.ap.org/article/probe-links-lithium-battery-dubai-ups-crash

    http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2007-03-05-batteries-planes_N.htm
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2014-05-03 07:52
    Not sure a UPS cargo plane takes the same precautions that a passenger carrier does for such cargo.

    Could it be that a fire overtook the plane? Then they diverted back to Malaysia on autopilot while trying to control the blaze? Maybe.
  • shimniokshimniok Posts: 177
    edited 2014-05-07 19:38
    You can find lots of speculation over on reddit. The battery / fire theory came up. Thing is, it's hard to explain how there can be a fire and yet the plane flies for another 7 hours. I guess we won't know until we know. Hope they find the wreckage and I hope some answers can be found.
  • evanhevanh Posts: 15,927
    edited 2014-05-14 06:44
    I just watched a doco on tele that scared the **** out of me! It was about engine lubricants being taken in by and passing through the cabin ventilation system of jet airliners and poisoning all on board with permanent brain damage as a typical side-effect.

    Was also capable knocking people out if concentrated enough. It indicated there is no exceptions, all jet airliners are and have always been built this way. It's just a question of whether an engine has such an event occur or not.
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2014-05-14 11:24
    Even since I got stuck in Manila on a 4 hour layover and had to wait in a line for 3 hours while they searched all the carry on for 100ml of mysterious liquid, I have a certain distrust of aviation authorities. This was in 1995, and it bacame obvious years later (after 9/11) that they were looking for nitro-glycerin and worried about Al Qaida blowing up a US bound jet. Bill Clinton was president.

    The main lesson I learned is that the cheaper the airline ticket, the more likely you are at risk from all sorts of hazards. Just take a look at ticket prices of various airlines in relationship to their safety records, especially in Asia.

    I wanted to fly from Kaohsiung to Chiang Mai, Thailand (about 2.5 - 3.0 hours direct flight), and I found a phenomenally cheap price via Singapore (22 hours flying). I am not sure which airlines, but going 10 hours wrong direction and coming back to save money certainly didn't appeal to me.

    It is even less appealing if I consider that I might be left treading water somewhere off of Antartica.
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