Why Business Class Poses a Unique Fire Hazard

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/13/business/why-business-class-poses-a-unique-fire-hazard.html

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In mid-May and again in late June, business-class passengers on Qantas flights from Australia to the United States dropped their smartphones into the mechanism below their seats.

What happened next, in each case, wasn’t pretty. The electronically activated seat crushed the phone, damaging the battery, which began heating uncontrollably.

Both times, as other travelers watched in alarm, flight attendants were able to retrieve the devices — in one case, already flaming — and submerge the phones in water to cool them down. The planes landed without further incident.

“It’s a small number, considering how many flights we have,” said Sharna Rhys-Jones, a spokeswoman for Qantas. “It’s not like it’s happening all the time. But we are asking people to be a little bit more aware of where their phones are.”

Little wonder, then, that Qantas has imposed a ban on Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, which have a propensity to spontaneously catch fire.

Qantas is not the only airline to have had such episodes with reclining business-class seats. Air France has had three in-flight smoke or fire events that were set off in the same way.

And the Qantas and Air France incidents do not fully illustrate the hazard, according to N. Albert Moussa, founder of BlazeTech, a fire safety company.

“If you take the same device and crush it differently in the seat, you could release the energy much faster,” Mr. Moussa said.

Economy seats, which are much less complex and do not move on a track, tend not to have the mechanisms that could trap and crush a phone.

Qantas and Air France have modified their preflight safety announcements to warn passengers not to move their business-class seats if their digital devices fall. But some wonder if asking passengers to pay closer attention to the location of their phones is sufficient.

In business class, many seats are fitted with a shield meant to prevent items from dropping into the moving parts below. But the shields are not required. Laura Brown, a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman, said airline seat makers are required to ensure only that body parts — not dropped objects — cannot be trapped in seat mechanisms.

Vern Alg, an aircraft interiors consultant, described it as a case of learning by experience. “You build a seat with the idea that you’ve thought of everything,” he said. “And as the seat goes into service and people test it, you find other avenues for things to get down into the mechanism.”

With more passengers carrying more devices onboard, as well as the growth of business class and ever more elaborate seats, the evolution of cabin design ought to be thoroughly investigated, said Merritt Birky, a former fire and explosion specialist at the National Transportation Safety Board who is now a private consultant.

“Any fire onboard an aircraft is a serious problem,” Mr. Birky said. “And if the seats are involved, if the mechanism of the seat is involved, it should be part of the investigation.”