An airline has banned portable chargers (Image: Getty)
An airline has become the first to ban portable chargers after a huge plane fire.
Korean airline Air Busan has announced that the gadget would be banned from hand luggage. Many airlines ban them from checked bags but not carry-ons.
The new rule was introduced after a fire on January 28 ripped through a plane with 176 people on board, who all had to be evacuated.
The “preemptive measure” means passengers will have to keep portable chargers on their person or in under-seat bags, rather than in overhead compartments.
The fire on January 28, believed to have been started by a portable charger, was noticed by a flight attendant and ended up destroying the plane beyond repair.
A portable charger is believed to have started a plane fire (Image: Getty)
Lo Kok-keung, a retired engineering professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, told the about the dangers of power banks on planes.
He said: “If it creates a short circuit it can create a high temperature and burn the internal materials and create a fire which can burn clothing in the baggage.”
Some airline rules ban power banks in checked luggage. Ryanair says that customers can carry a maximum of two spare lithium-ion batteries in carry-on baggage which must be individually protected to prevent short circuits.
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Passengers are also warned not to try and retrieve their phones if they lose them down the side of the seat mid-flight, due to the risk of fire. This happened on a 2017 United Airlines flight and a 2018 Delta Airlines flight.
Former pilot Patrick Smith said: “If you’re in an electrically controlled lie-flat seat, of the type common in first or business class, there are a number of nooks and crannies into which your phone can slip — beyond your reach and down into the mechanisms that control the seat’s various positions.
Other things banned from flights include breast milk, chair-extending hammocks or boxes, medical equipment and medicine, toy weapons, and souvenirs such as snow globes.