News from Australia with an iPhone that was being a bit temperamental.
Regional Express (REX) were operating a flight Lismore to Sydney, and after landing, the Apple iPhone4 decided to emit what REX calls “significant amount of dense smoke, accompanied by a red glow”
It seems however the flight attendant was on the ball, extinguishing the device before it could do any further damage, whilst crew and passengers were removed safely.
The phone in question… looks like it went through hell.
The iPhone at the heart of the case – Image: Regional Express Airlines (Australia)
The Register has done a brief analysis, which points to a battery failure.
REX has handed the matter over to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) as well as the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) for investigation.
Well that’s a fair bit of damage there. I’d dread to think the insurance bill for that device – as well as the disruption caused.
And at least this didn’t happen in flight…
Just great (sigh), I suppose now, they are going to try to ban mobile phones on planes.
Li-Ion isn’t that good. It’s been the cause of a few accidents already http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704483004575524353472009056.html (as well as the suspect in the Asiana 747F loss this year).
Sadly, whilst most batteries are perfect out of the factory, not all of them are…