The Transportation Safety Board yesterday said it would not investigate a fire on a Scoot Airlines flight to Singapore that was reportedly caused by a portable charger in a passenger’s carry-on luggage, as it does not qualify as a major transportation incident.
The incident occurred at 7:47pm on Tuesday, when Scoot Airlines Flight TR993 was waiting to take off from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, the board said in a statement.
There were 187 passengers on the flight, as well as two pilots and four cabin crew members, the board said.
Photo: CNA
When the aircraft was waiting on Runway 05R for liftoff, a passenger’s portable power charger caught fire, the board said.
“The aircraft taxied back [to the gate] after cabin crew members extinguished the fire,” it said. “One passenger sustained minor burns.”
The board dispatched two investigators to the airport to interview the injured passenger, pilots and cabin crew members, it said, adding that they took the charger and recordings from the aircraft’s flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder back to the board’s office.
The board convened at 10:30am yesterday to determine whether the incident should be investigated, it said.
“Based on the Transportation Occurrences Investigation Act (運輸事故調查法) and International Civil Aviation Organization [ICAO] standards, we have determined that it was not a major transportation incident and does not fall under our scope of oversight,” the board said. “We will turn the collected information to the Singaporean Air Accident Investigation Bureau.”
The ICAO and International Air Transport Association stipulate that lithium batteries with less than 100 watt-hours (wh) can be carried on board, the Civil Aeronautics Administration said.
Under special permissions from airlines, cabin crew members and passengers can carry two batteries with up to 160wh, the agency added.
Laptops, tablet computers, smartphones and portable power chargers are generally equipped with lithium batteries with less than 100wh and are allowed to be carried on board in the passenger’s hand luggage.
They must not be placed in checked luggage, the agency said.
To prevent safety hazards caused by lithium batteries, passengers should avoid dropping, crushing or puncturing them, the agency said.
They should stop using them if they are damaged, it added.
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