The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Administration issued a safety advisory concerning the transportation of lithium ion batteries on aircraft. The purpose of the safety advisory is to inform those transporting lithium batteries of the actions taken by ICAO in order to enhance safety during transport.
The FAA Tech Centers’ research has highlighted several safety concerns.
Some of those concerns include the fire suppression capabilities not being strong enough on an aircraft to effectively handle the heat and flames that would be occur should the batteries catch fire and the flammable gases from a lithium battery fire may cause a catastrophic explosion.
As a result of this research and recommendations made by ICAO the Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air 2015- 2016 edition has been updated to include the prohibition of lithium batteries as cargo on passenger aircraft that is not either contained in or packed with equipment. Lithium batteries must not exceed 30% of the rated capacity on cargo aircraft, and a limit on the number of lithium ion and lithium metal batteries that can be transported together on cargo aircraft.
