metalresearcher
National Hazard
Posts: 737
Registered: 7-9-2010
Member Is Offline
Mood: Reactive
|
|
Li battery fire crashed MH 370 ?
On CNN I found an interesting article:
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/25/opinion/adcock-flight-370-...
which appears rather plausible for me. Particularly Li metal batteries (Energizer Lithium) can release lots of energy when shorted and causing a fire
hard to extinguish (when lots of batteries are loaded, not two penlites in a passenger's checked baggage).
Or oxidizing stuff e.g. mislabeled oxygen cilinders or chlorine or even ClF3 ?
A heavy fire can incapacitate pilots resulting in a 'fuel runout' flight finally crashing into the southern Indian Ocean.
|
|
|
phlogiston
International Hazard
Posts: 1377
Registered: 26-4-2008
Location: Neon Thorium Erbium Lanthanum Neodymium Sulphur
Member Is Offline
Mood: pyrophoric
|
|
I'm sure as they start digging into this case more and more possible possible causes and strange coincidences will be discovered, but until real data
is recovered (flight recorders, remains of the plane) it will just remain pure speculation.
[Edited on 27-3-2014 by phlogiston]
-----
"If a rocket goes up, who cares where it comes down, that's not my concern said Wernher von Braun" - Tom Lehrer |
|
|
TheChemiKid
Hazard to Others
Posts: 493
Registered: 5-8-2013
Location: ̿̿ ̿̿ ̿'̿'̵͇̿̿з=༼ ▀̿̿Ĺ̯̿̿▀̿ ̿ ༽
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
It is a possibility that the lithium batteries caught fire, but shorting them generally doen't cause a fire. You may be confusing lithium and
lithium-polymer batteries.
When the police come
\( * O * )/ ̿̿ ̿̿ ̿'̿'̵͇̿̿з=༼ ▀̿̿Ĺ̯̿̿▀̿ ̿ ༽
|
|
|
blogfast25
International Hazard
Posts: 10562
Registered: 3-2-2008
Location: Neverland
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
CNN (LOL). 'Hello' would be more reliable...
|
|
|
Metacelsus
International Hazard
Posts: 2537
Registered: 26-12-2012
Location: Boston, MA
Member Is Offline
Mood: Double, double, toil and trouble
|
|
Remember, the point of the media is to attract attention and make money.
|
|
|
AJKOER
Radically Dubious
Posts: 3026
Registered: 7-5-2011
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
OK, there is no functioning Black Box anymore. It records over itself after a relatively short time. There was a proposal (discussed on CNN) to
transmit flight data to the 'cloud' (the same place where your computer files are reputedly backed up to). However, as it was going to cost the
airlines around $1,600 a month per plane, it was eventually rejected. My rough calc is it translates to an added dollar or less for each passenger
ticket sold per month.
Why did I suspect the airlines are regulating themselves?
By the way, because of the lack data, many countries contributed millions of dollars to the search effort (so that the airlines can continue to do
business as usual). Interestingly, greed, incompetent and poor regulatory oversight are barely being discussed as of yet.
----------------------------------------------------
On the chemistry, I agree that a fire is a good guess. My reasoning is that a large fire is not needed, just a smokey fire burning plastic. In a
small room with time, the generated HCN fumes are likely fatal with no possibility of exiting to fresh air. With a larger fire, add CO2, CO and a
depletion of oxygen. Also, the reported rapid change in altitude may have been an attempt to release the O2 mask, but even if successful, there is but
a limited quantity of chemical produced O2. Also, the partial loss in electric power from human intervention, may have been a futile attempt to
address/diminish an electrical fire. In addition, erroneous attempts to extinguish an electrical fire with water could have produced flammable
hydrogen together with oxygen, aggravating the situation (perhaps seriously, as the lower explosive limit of H2 in air is just 4%).
Not a good story, the relativities are better off not knowing the details of such a scenario. May they rest in peace.
[Edited on 29-3-2014 by AJKOER]
|
|
|
The_Davster
|
Thread Moved
29-3-2014 at 17:56 |
Chemosynthesis
International Hazard
Posts: 1071
Registered: 26-9-2013
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
Quote: Originally posted by AJKOER  |
Why did I suspect the airlines are regulating themselves?
By the way, because of the lack data, many countries contributed millions of dollars to the search effort (so that the airlines can continue to do
business as usual). Interestingly, greed, incompetent and poor regulatory oversight are barely being discussed as of yet.
[Edited on 29-3-2014 by AJKOER] |
In this instance, the airline was majority government owned, and given any open bidding contract process awarding funding to what amounts to the
lowest bidder, I wouldn't blame private entities for economizing as well. These types of event are so rare, the planes already built and
depreciating, that money and maintenance opportunity cost are probably considered better spent elsewhere.
Now, you want to talk baggage fees, and I'm right there with you.
I did not get any specificity from my friend due to confidentiality agreements, but he has a pretty advanced avionics education and background, and he
was of the opinion that a fire was unlikely due to redundancy of reporting mechanisms with the engines and "stuff."
|
|
|
![[*]](images/xpblue/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
