Anyone else miss the news on this last week?

[JCinFLA]

I must've some how missed this, because some neighbors just told me about it earlier tonight. Surprised it wasn't posted about already since it happened last Wednesday. Makes me wonder how long it'll be before any/all vape gear will no longer be allowed even in carry-ons. Providing 2 different links about the same incident because the FOX News 1 includes a video of the incident, recorded by a passenger.

Vape pen catches fire in overhead bin on Delta flight

Delta Connection passenger's vape pen bursts into flames, ignites bag in overhead compartment

When I Googled "Delta ecigarette fire", I came across other incidents reported in the past, too. A couple others found on page 1 were: March 16, 2016 - another 1 on a Delta flight; January 5th this year, there was one on an American Airlines flight. There are others on additional pages, too.

ETA: What do you think that we as vapers can do, to help prevent these things from happening?

 

[bombastinator]

I did. I generally view the Murdoch controlled news outlets as being exceptionally unreliable. I’ve had a dim view of the man ever since he created the national enquirer. They generally get read last. The only national news that covered it was FOX news and USA Today. Everything else appears to be local. Which I find a bit odd.
GIZMODO is also national in that it’s an internet site. They seem to be the #3 hit. IIRC they’re owned by some large conglomerate or other. I don’t know if it’s owned by Murdoch or not.
I do read Gizmodo, but I didn’t over the weekend.

There is one random thing I noticed which could be nothing.
Gizmodo differentiates between vaporizers and e-cigarettes in their search tag system. To them all vaporizers are of a sort of device not discussed here. e-cigarettes are the ones with nicotine in them. Gizmodo is a lot more positive about vaporizers than it is about e-cigarettes. Vaporizers they do generally glowing product reviews on. Not so much e-cigarettes. They’ve done some seriously negative stuff in the past, though their more recent stuff seems to be less relentlessly negative.
Searching the e-cigarette section, I was unable to find the report. I was also unable to find it in the vaporizer section. This could just be just a random tagging thing of no import though.

As far as legislation I wouldn’t worry in this case. It seems that while the headline claims it was the e-cig, the body copy says it was a separate charging system which the passenger was using while it was in his bag, breaking airline regulations.

 

[JCinFLA]

As far as legislation I wouldn’t worry in this case.

I'm not too concerned about actual legislation...yet, but can't airlines themselves set specific rules about what can/can't be in passenger carry-ons? If they could institute special rules...they'd have to include any/all devices with Lithium and/or Li-Po batteries in them though, wouldn't they?

the body copy says it was a separate charging system which the passenger was using while it was in his bag, breaking airline regulations.

You mean one of those power banks maybe, so his mod would be charged and ready on arrival?

 

[bombastinator]

I'm not too concerned about actual legislation...yet, but can't airlines themselves set specific rules about what can/can't be in passenger carry-ons? If they could institute special rules...they'd have to include any/all devices with Lithium and/or Li-Po batteries in them though, wouldn't they?

From what I remember of reading the articles they already do have such rules and he broke them.

 

[JCinFLA]

From what I remember of reading the articles they already do have such rules and he broke them.

Yeah, I read that, too. So, couldn't they single out vaping gear then, for further restrictions and/or ban it on their planes? Seems like the most reported incidents on planes, have involved vape related devices, with only a few involving cell phones and laptops.

 

[bombastinator]

Yeah, I read that, too. So, couldn't they single out vaping gear then, for further restrictions and/or ban it on their planes? Seems like the most reported incidents on planes, have involved vape related devices, with only a few involving cell phones and laptops.

And other electronic devices up to and including heated socks it seems. They seem to want any removable battery device battery free and the batteries in separate cases, regardless of which device is used. At that point the device is irrelevant. The majority of cell phone and laptops don’t have removable batteries.

 

[ScottP]

From what I remember of reading the articles they already do have such rules and he broke them.

That was my take based on the article as well. I don't know what, if any, penalty that may carry, but he will probably be banned from future Delta flights and could be held responsible for any damages that occured from his breaking of these rules.

You have to wonder though, what kind of person breaks safety rules that could cause a fire while trapped in a metal tube thousands of feet above the ground with no where to escape to.

 

[ScottP]

Seems like the most reported incidents on planes, have involved vape related devices, with only a few involving cell phones and laptops.

Remember this one about the camera battery?
Lithium battery explosion causes panic at Orlando International Airport
Luckily this one was just in the airport and not on the plane already. It's not just vape batteries that explode.

 

[ScottP]

I'm not too concerned about actual legislation...yet, but can't airlines themselves set specific rules about what can/can't be in passenger carry-ons? If they could institute special rules...they'd have to include any/all devices with Lithium and/or Li-Po batteries in them though, wouldn't they?

No legislation would even be needed. The TSA can create rules at will without any need for legislation. Yes, airlines can add additional restrictions also at will, they just can't create any rule that reduces or eliminates a TSA rule.

Really any device with a removable battery (cell phones, vapes, tablets, cameras, etc.) should have the battery removed and stored in a battery safe container. However, with all the people that use their phones for entertainment in-flight and all the people that want to take pics out the window, I doubt that rule would ever fly (pun intended). If they did enforce that for vapes I would have zero problem with it.

I doubt they would ever try to ban just "vape" batteries on flights because all a person would have to do is buy a flashlight and drop a couple of 18650's in it then they are no longer "vape" batteries. They can't ban all batteries, because that would mean professional photographers couldn't bring cameras. Business people that have to bring laptops for work, couldn't. And no one could bring a cell phone. This would effectively kill the ticket sales of any airline that tried it. So bottom line I am not worried about a battery ban. They might get more strict with how they are stored though.

On the bright side, if they did completely ban all batteries on flights, it would be really easy to spot the hijackers and terrorists because they would be the only ones on the plane.

 

[Shawn Hoefer]

My issue is, again, with the reporting. No mention of the brand, make, model, etc of the device. This allows consumers to continue purchasing and using potentially dangerous devices. Further, it's overall vague... Was it the ecig? Was it a charger? Was the ecig charging?

Of course, if the devices were UL tested/listed this kind of occurrence might be minimized. Thankfully, the FDA has stepped in to ensure that doesn't happen.

That last was irony... Or sarcasm... Or ironic sarcasm...

 

[bombastinator]

My issue is, again, with the reporting. No mention of the brand, make, model, etc of the device. This allows consumers to continue purchasing and using potentially dangerous devices. Further, it's overall vague... Was it the ecig? Was it a charger? Was the ecig charging?

Of course, if the devices were UL tested/listed this kind of occurrence might be minimized. Thankfully, the FDA has stepped in to ensure that doesn't happen.

That last was irony... Or sarcasm... Or ironic sarcasm...

The impression I got, which may be wrong, from reading several of the articles, is that both the vape and the “charging device” which I am assuming was a battery bank of some kind, were battery filled and running in violation of airline regulation. Only the charging device caught fire. The only reason a vape was even mentioned is it was what the charger was charging.

This is why I think it didn’t make the news anywhere but in the originating city, the destination city, Murdoch publications, and Gizmodo.

In the local areas a minor fire on an airplane is reasonable local news. Murdoch will print anything lurid whether true or not, and Gizmodo loves gadgets but hates e-cigarettes.

 

[englishmick]

From what I remember of reading the articles they already do have such rules and he broke them.

I've only flown with vapes a handful of times but the rules they have should make it safe. Batteries in battery boxes and so forth. But really there's nothing to stop you putting the batteries back in the mods after you get on the plane, or even putting them on a charger. I put tape on my battery boxes to stop them coming open. If the box had a damaged catch the batteries could fall out of the box and roll around looking for something metal.

No rules can stop people being careless or stupid. The day a vape causes a serious incident on a plane with injuries or worse it will all be over.

 

[Eskie]

They can ban individual devices like they did with the Galaxy Note, or classes of devices like electric skate boards. Phones, laptops, and tablets have built in batteries and as you're now allowed to use them in flight, some airlines like Delta even feed their entertainment over wifi to your devices now, aren't going anywhere. Unless they ban removable Li batteries properly stored outside of a device altogether I don't see anything more coming from it. He could have just as easily been charging a tablet or cordless headphones when the charge brick failed.