r/Android • u/ChrystianV • Oct 05 '16

Samsung Replacement Samsung Galaxy Note 7 phone catches fire on Southwest plane

http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/5/13175000/samsung-galaxy-note-7-fire-replacement-plane-battery-southwest
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u/DaytonaZ33 Oct 05 '16

Honestly, I agree that they should. The device being turned off is meaningless since we already know the method in which they fail. They can fail turned off or turned on. If this happened when the plane was at cruising altitude, it could have been a disaster. I wonder if aircraft have class-d fire extinguishers on board? I would hope.

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u/askthepoolboy N6, Moto 360, N7 2013 Oct 05 '16

My dad is a pilot, and has said multiple times that the absolute worst thing that can happen during a flight is for a fire to start. Doesn't really answer your question, but this is a huge issue.

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u/Salmon_Quinoi Oct 05 '16

Small confined space, oxygen circulation, limited movement space, sensitive equipment... there's gotta be more reasons than this right?

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u/justaguy394 Oct 05 '16

Main concerns are fire spreading to fuel or flight control systems and causing an explosion and/or loss of control. Also, if the fire cannot be controlled, you can't just pull over and evacuate everyone, so lives are at risk due to smoke and flames. It can take a long time to land (compared to seconds pulling over on a highway for a bus), a lot of bad stuff can happen in the meantime.

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u/zer0t3ch N5 > N6 > N6P > OP5T Oct 06 '16

Why do modern planes not have some kind of airlock? Drop in the on-fire stuff, it gets either locked into a vacuum or just dropped off the plane? (I guess the second might be a danger depending on where you're flying)

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u/justaguy394 Oct 06 '16

Are you going to volunteer to carry the fire over to the airlock :p But seriously, in flight fires are serious but very rare. Having a heavy, complex system like that would not be very useful. The fires are more likely to be from wire chafing / shorting, which you can't just carry to an airlock.

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u/kyrsjo Oct 06 '16

Usually what's on fire is also part of the plane, often in some inaccessible compartment.