V-Flyer

It appears a mobile phone charger/power bank caught fire between seat cushions on last night’s VS138 from JFK-LHR.

The flight diverted to Boston and thankfully everyone got off safely but it shows exactly why the crew ask you not to leave devices charging - this could have been much, much worse.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... e-on-board

Way back in 2007 a similar thing nearly happened to me on VS21. I had borrowed the tips from the cabin crew to charge my iPod. After a short time there was a smell of burning and my iPod was red hot to the touch. It was quickly disconnected and the captain instructed that no power outlets were to be used on that flight.

The aircraft wasn’t evacuated. The pic they have used is of g-vsxy at lgw!

virginboy747 wrote:The aircraft wasn’t evacuated. The pic they have used is of g-vsxy at lgw!

Ha, yeah I guess I should have noted the easyJet tail in the background! I did think it was odd that there was a photo of a firefighter onboard with passengers still present along with a photo of the slides deployed. They've changed the picture now.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-48879379

with some viedo of the fire EDIT it’s of a fire not this one

Apparently the friend of the person in the seat involved disputes the phone charger was the cause

It's very misleading of the BBC - the footage they've used is stated to be of a flight from Barcelona to Ibiza. It frustrates me that people's first instincts these days are to start filming, as opposed to helping.

It also frustrates me when media outlets can't get simple facts right. The Daily Mail saying a fire broke out in first class....

Plane was G-VKSS Mademoiselle Rouge

Article from the Boston Globe showing the remnants of the seat cushion and stating that it was a battery pack not a charger that likely caused the fire


https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/ ... story.html

Looks a real mess!

G-VKSS is on her way back from BOS now as a positioning flight (VS838P).

I guess this could have been a whole lot worse if this had have been in checked luggage!!

I just wonder now how long it will be before battery packs get banned altogether now?

The current rule for VS is spare lithium ion batteries should be rated less than 1600Wh and should only be carried in hand luggage or on your person (see the table at the bottom on this page)

(oh and for another fine piece of UK journalism, try the The Telegraph who used a photo of a VX A319 aircraft - completely the wrong airline!!!)

Whenever something unfortunate like this happens you can be sure of 2 things:
1. The press will sensationalise it.
2. People on board (or even friends/colleagues/long lost aunties) of them will be the quoted experts on what went wrong and what should have been done to fix it/prevent it etc. etc.........