DJI Inspire LiPo fire on airliner

seattle_helo

seattle_helo

Member
Guys, I think most of us traveling on airplanes with LiPo's understand how critical it is to pack them properly and treat them carefully. Here's a great reminder that was posted online yesterday:

inspire_fire_1.jpg


Apparently this was the scene on a KLM flight where a Dutch TV producer had stowed a DJI Inspire kit in the overhead compartment (the correct place to transport LiPo batts, btw). But in this case they were not stored properly and somehow a short or fault developed. A very bad scenario on an airplane. This could have been a lot worse but luckily the damage was mostly contained to the Inspire case:

inspire_fire_2.jpg



Bottom line, for the sake of us all, PLEASE pack your LiPo's properly and take care that they can't become shorted in flight. Use terminal caps or tape to cover the connectors and contacts. Pack them so that they are protected and safe from being pinched or knocked into each other. Pay attention to the fundamentals. This is one of those things where I feel like I'm preaching to the choir but it's just so critical that it bears emphasizing. Please be careful.

nick
 

Gary Seven

Gary Seven

Rocketman
Wow. Powerful post. Unfortunately I think most of us can see where all this is headed: A complete ban of all LiPo powered RC vehicles on commercial airliners. I mean, OMG!:(
 

SleepyC

SleepyC

www.AirHeadMedia.com
Here's my question. By looking at the case, it looks as if the batteries are all separated properly, that this case was customer designed around the Inspire. SO.. chances are nothing was pinched or touched.... and from what I have seen the Inspire batteries use a slide in type contact, so there are no wires sticking out.... so HOW DID THIS HAPPEN!?
 
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Bartman

Bartman

Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
everything posted above is good info but please also discharge batteries to their storage level (3.3 to 3.7 volts per cell) before traveling with them. plan time at your destination to recharge everything.

thanks!
bart
 

Gary Seven

Gary Seven

Rocketman
Bartman said:
everything posted above is good info but please also discharge batteries to their storage level (3.3 to 3.7 volts per cell) before traveling with them. plan time at your destination to recharge everything.

thanks!
bart
Click to expand...
You know Bart, I'm glad you posted that. I sorta thought it was a foregone conclusion that LiPo's carried on board would have been discharged at least to their storage state, if not even a little less. It seems obvious to you and me and everyone else here, but do you think the general public has a clue about this (especially DJI owners)??
 


SleepyC

SleepyC

www.AirHeadMedia.com
Can we get the Noob DJI owners to discharge their lipo packs to a safe rate with their tongues?
9 Volt style?

I KID I KID!!
:D
 




S

Str8 Up

Member
Ditto. There are quite a few people that know that TSA doesn't always know the watt hour limits and carry on a large number of big packs. Pretty stupid to put others at risk for the sake of convenience.
 

SchrodingersCar

SchrodingersCar

Member
That raises the question: What do the responsible pros who have to travel with a lot of batteries usually do? Ship them via ground? In the pro video production world, travel for shoots is a necessity - I'm just now starting to add UAV services to my package, and I'm concerned about the logistics - gotta be able to pack up and fly somewhere at a moments notice sometimes. Maybe in the near future some savvy entrepreneur will set up regional lipo rental houses...
 

seattle_helo

seattle_helo

Member
SchrodingersCar said:
That raises the question: What do the responsible pros who have to travel with a lot of batteries usually do? Ship them via ground? In the pro video production world, travel for shoots is a necessity - I'm just now starting to add UAV services to my package, and I'm concerned about the logistics - gotta be able to pack up and fly somewhere at a moments notice sometimes. Maybe in the near future some savvy entrepreneur will set up regional lipo rental houses...
Click to expand...

Funny, I've thought about that myself. But in the end I think between the liability concerns and the fact most guys want to know the history and health of the batts they rely on to power their rigs it just wouldn't work out.

When I travel I only take twelve 6S flight packs and usually give half to my camera operator or other crew guys. One interesting thing to keep in mind is that the total watt hours allowed is per person. Any one person can only have so much capacity in their carry on pieces but theoretically you could give several 6S batts to everyone on the plane to carry on and that would be fine. In that case, even though the total capacity and amount of stored energy would be tremendous, I think the logic there is that separating them physically helps mitigate risk of problems.

Bart, right on about traveling with them discharged. It's the responsible thing to do.

nick
 

dazzab

dazzab

Member
Wow. So, I guess everyone here would say to put the batteries in a lipo bag? A commercial airline pilot told me recently that lipos bag are next to worthless. I've never heard that before and was surprised at his statement. If it's true, then it's really not safe to take Lipos anywhere, let alone on a plane.
 

Old Man

Old Man

Active Member
Lipo bags will dampen an explosion. The battery can still burn inside the bag. Once the Velcro seal or the thread holding it in place melts the flap comes wide open. There's a lot of cheap lipo bags getting exported from China and you just don't know how well the bags you bought were made, or really what they are made of. I suppose a way to test one might be putting a lit road flare inside one and letting it burn until it goes out.
 

GotHeliRC

GotHeliRC

http://gothelirc.com
Humm.... To me it look like the battery that burnt was the battery that was in the Inspire? Man, I would never leaf the battery inside the copter during storage...... Let say that battery switch was faulty in someway and it turn on, then that's your problem.

I have tested the lipo bag before with a 6s 3000mah packs, intentional trying to get it to over charge for 2 hours before it go off, there's a lot of smoke coming out of the bag, but no actual fire.... it actually burn it self out. The bag I used are very THICK material, not the cheap thin one. PS (I had to try basically every trick I can to get it to go off. it isn't easy) unless you put a nail through it.

So my 2cent is... lipo bag ARE NOT USELESS, it certainly can eliminate a disaster... better than nothing.
 

jfro

jfro

Aerial Fun
I agree with GotHeliRC, that it looks like the battery was left in the Inspire. The melting of the case right above it and the area on the back side of the inspire seems to enforce this.

I just flew about 4800 miles (1 way ) with my inspire yesterday. This shakes me up a bit. I hope it was human error like maybe they left the battery turned on in the Inspire or something. We all worry about lipo's and I worry even more about the smart lipo that has extra intelligence in it that can do things with the battery, esp. from a company that isn't the best at beta testing stuff they sell. Very Scarey. Good to see it was contained and it didn't start a major fire.... Maybe we need transport containers that can contain a fire. Smoke isn't going to be lethal like a fire on an airplane would.

In regards to shipping or transporting, isn't 3.8v - 3.85 the sweet spot. That's the default that I though most chargers went to for storage?
 

SFC76

SFC76

Member
That's a very expensive way to learn this lesson.. Wonder if my sister was on duty on that flight (she's a Purser for KLM).
 

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