5 ms·

If it ain't broke, don't fix it; printed novels don't contain lithium ion batteries. Read on a flight, save a life!

by saintwind 10y ago

anotheryou 10y ago
or to be more modest: a capacity limit so you can take your phone, but not your tablet.
- ghaff 10y ago
  And, yet, a number of airlines (such as United) are introducing entertainment systems whereby they stream content to your own device. More fundamentally, do you suggest that people travel without tablets or laptops? Never going to happen. And it's better to have the batteries in the cabin than in the hold.
  - icebraining 10y ago
    it's better to have the batteries in the cabin than in the hold. Why? Seems like you could have more effective fire-extinguishing methods in the hold (replacing oxygen with an inert gas, for example).
    - aembleton 10y ago
      I don't think the hold is pressurised, and so there would be very little oxygen there.
      - anotheryou 10y ago
        Where do pet crates go? I think it might be.
      - ghaff 10y ago
        Cargo holds are typically pressurized. Pressurizing forward of the aft pressure bulkhead doesn't really add significantly to the structural requirements of an aircraft as I understand it. Furthermore (in addition to pets) you'd probably see lots of leaking and otherwise damaged contents of luggage/cargo if the hold were unpressurized.
        wiredfool 10y ago
        More than that, the most efficient pressure vessel is a circular section (tension only). Making the floor of the passenger cabin the pressure vessel would be very heavy, as it would have to carry the load in bending.
      - kwhitefoot 10y ago
        Of course it is pressurized. If it were not shampoo and toothpaste would leak out of their containers.
    - cr1895 10y ago
      Presumably the reaction to an in-cabin fire will be quicker than to that of a fire in the hold. Do these batteries provide their own oxidizer somehow (in that would flooding the hold with CO2 or something actually extinguish one on fire)? I don't know how fire protection currently is within an airplane hold but surely this is a solveable problem. Maybe airlines are asking that people not put these batteries in the hold is because fire protection systems haven't yet been adapted to this risk.
      - icebraining 10y ago
        Presumably the reaction to an in-cabin fire will be quicker than to that of a fire in the hold. A couple of decades ago I could see that, but nowadays? Surely installing an array of heat and smoke sensors wouldn't be that expensive?
        cr1895 10y ago
        No it's probably not anything new but when you muck about with commercial airplanes things get expensive and take a lot of time (regulatory issues). It's one thing to modify something with your car, for example, but when you change something about a commercial airliner it's not so simple.
      - pjc50 10y ago
        > Do these batteries provide their own oxidizer somehow Yes - the metal oxides in one of the electrodes decompose at high temperatures. CO2 will stop it setting other things on fire but the battery will continue to burn like a thermite reaction until it runs out of fuel.
        cr1895 10y ago
        Ah...you say it's like thermite...could one of these melt its way completely through the plane fuselage?
    - kawsper 10y ago
      You can see my comments about Halon 1301 here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12478330 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12478330
  - anotheryou 10y ago
    You could put all batteries in protective bags if really needed. http://alexnld.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/SKU154973-2.jpg http://alexnld.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/SKU154973-2.jp...
witty_username 10y ago
All batteries have protection against overheating and fire. The chance of a battery becoming on fire is very very small.
lmm 10y ago
Printed novels dry out my fingers, are exceedingly heavy (even one weighs twice as much as 1000+ ebooks, and we're talking about flying which has weight limits), inaccessible for many readers (no audio narration, large-print editions have to be bought separately and are even heavier), hard to read in the dark...

If it ain't broke, don't fix it; printed novels don't contain lithium ion batteries. Read on a flight, save a life!

anotheryou 10y ago

or to be more modest: a capacity limit so you can take your phone, but not your tablet.

ghaff 10y ago
And, yet, a number of airlines (such as United) are introducing entertainment systems whereby they stream content to your own device. More fundamentally, do you suggest that people travel without tablets or laptops? Never going to happen. And it's better to have the batteries in the cabin than in the hold.
- icebraining 10y ago
  it's better to have the batteries in the cabin than in the hold. Why? Seems like you could have more effective fire-extinguishing methods in the hold (replacing oxygen with an inert gas, for example).
  - aembleton 10y ago
    I don't think the hold is pressurised, and so there would be very little oxygen there.
    - anotheryou 10y ago
      Where do pet crates go? I think it might be.
    - ghaff 10y ago
      Cargo holds are typically pressurized. Pressurizing forward of the aft pressure bulkhead doesn't really add significantly to the structural requirements of an aircraft as I understand it. Furthermore (in addition to pets) you'd probably see lots of leaking and otherwise damaged contents of luggage/cargo if the hold were unpressurized.
      - wiredfool 10y ago
        More than that, the most efficient pressure vessel is a circular section (tension only). Making the floor of the passenger cabin the pressure vessel would be very heavy, as it would have to carry the load in bending.
    - kwhitefoot 10y ago
      Of course it is pressurized. If it were not shampoo and toothpaste would leak out of their containers.
  - cr1895 10y ago
    Presumably the reaction to an in-cabin fire will be quicker than to that of a fire in the hold. Do these batteries provide their own oxidizer somehow (in that would flooding the hold with CO2 or something actually extinguish one on fire)? I don't know how fire protection currently is within an airplane hold but surely this is a solveable problem. Maybe airlines are asking that people not put these batteries in the hold is because fire protection systems haven't yet been adapted to this risk.
    - icebraining 10y ago
      Presumably the reaction to an in-cabin fire will be quicker than to that of a fire in the hold. A couple of decades ago I could see that, but nowadays? Surely installing an array of heat and smoke sensors wouldn't be that expensive?
      - cr1895 10y ago
        No it's probably not anything new but when you muck about with commercial airplanes things get expensive and take a lot of time (regulatory issues). It's one thing to modify something with your car, for example, but when you change something about a commercial airliner it's not so simple.
    - pjc50 10y ago
      > Do these batteries provide their own oxidizer somehow Yes - the metal oxides in one of the electrodes decompose at high temperatures. CO2 will stop it setting other things on fire but the battery will continue to burn like a thermite reaction until it runs out of fuel.
      - cr1895 10y ago
        Ah...you say it's like thermite...could one of these melt its way completely through the plane fuselage?
  - kawsper 10y ago
    You can see my comments about Halon 1301 here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12478330 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12478330
- anotheryou 10y ago
  You could put all batteries in protective bags if really needed. http://alexnld.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/SKU154973-2.jpg http://alexnld.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/SKU154973-2.jp...

witty_username 10y ago

All batteries have protection against overheating and fire. The chance of a battery becoming on fire is very very small.

lmm 10y ago

Printed novels dry out my fingers, are exceedingly heavy (even one weighs twice as much as 1000+ ebooks, and we're talking about flying which has weight limits), inaccessible for many readers (no audio narration, large-print editions have to be bought separately and are even heavier), hard to read in the dark...