Page 37 - InterPilot 2020 Issue 1

PAGE 37

Shouldn’t passengers know when they’re flying with these articles
under their seats in the cabin on a passenger flight? Why is it that DG
are not more publicly understood by passengers?

The DG items allowed in carryon baggage are actually very limited and
only in quantities that are safe for transport. People don’t usually carry
a lot of DG in carryon bags and normally carry only small quantities of
relatively safe Dangerous Goods.

There are only about 25 types of DG articles allowed in passenger carry
on and checked baggage. Many of these are batteries (including lithium
batteries) and battery powered devices, which include things like cell
phones, tablets, cameras, computers, other small electronic items and
mobility aids (wheelchairs).

But items such as flammable liquids that are allowed in carryon baggage
tend to be consumer commodities like perfumes which actually have
small amounts of flammable liquids in them, and some aerosols, or
batteries, so they tend not to be very large shipments of the more
hazardous dangerous goods that require very special handling, like it
would in a cargo shipment.

Is my mobile phone a Dangerous Good because it has a lithium battery
in it?

Yes, it is. It is a regulated Dangerous Good, however, a cell phone in a
passenger cabin, not packaged with many others in the same place does
not actually present a very large hazard to the airplane. There are certain
common-sense safety precautions we must take, such as making sure if
you lose it in your seat you don’t move the seat back and forth trying to
look for it, so it doesn’t get crushed.

Many airlines recommend not charging your phone in flight because the
odds of something bad happening are higher when its being charged.
So, yes, it is a Dangerous Good, it is recognized as such in the regulations,
and flight attendants and flight crews are trained to deal with Portable
Electronic Devices (PEDs) that may catch fire in flight.