E-cigarettes, vapes have entered the daily life of many pipers and are also taken with them on trips. But as it turns out, it’s not so safe, especially on flights.
In recent years, there has been a sharp increase in the number of accidents involving batteries directly correlated to the use of vapes and e-cigarettes.
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According to the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), there were nine incidents involving lithium batteries in 2014. By 2016, the number had risen to 32, before rising to 50 two years later. Although the number of incidents declined over the next few years, it rose again to 54 in 2021, and rose to 75 in 2022. By 2023, 27 As of October, the FAA had recorded 63 lithium battery incidents for the year.
Many of the accidents involved e-cigarettes and vapes. So, for example, on a Delta Air Lines flight from Atlanta and Monterey on October 24, 2023, an overheated vape caused an accident in the cabin. The overheated device was placed in a thermal insulation bag and the flight was able to continue. Also, a similar accident was recorded on October 11, 2023, on a flight from London Heathrow Airport to Dallas.
In total, airlines have reported 19 incidents related to e-cigarettes or vapes in 2023. A year earlier, there were 29 incidents of such devices overheating or emitting smoke.
Despite the accidents, e-cigarettes and vapes can be taken on a flight, but only in hand luggage. There have been recommendations that the battery should be removed from the electronic smoking device during the flight, or that it should be placed in a special case.
Tags: safe ecigarettes flights
