Airbus A-320-232 N648JB

Summary

On 10 February 2007 at about 17:45 local time, a Airbus A-320-232 registered N648JB was involved in an incident near New York, New York, United States. 136 people were on board and nobody was injured. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

10 February 2007 at 17:45

Classification

Incident

Location

New York, New York, United States

Nearest airport

John F Kennedy Intl (JFK)

Coordinates

40.6439, -73.7869

Aircraft

Airbus A-320-232

Registration

N648JB

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

New York → Nassau

Aircraft damage

Not recorded

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

NYC07IA063

Nobody was injured.

The in-flight fire which was caused by the catastrophic failure of a 9-volt battery from an unknown cause.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

During climbout from the departure airport, a flight attendant noticed smoke coming from a bag containing camera equipment in one of the overhead bins. She extinguished the smoke, and notified the captain of the situation. He declared an emergency, and the airplane landed uneventfully at the departure airport approximately 6 minutes later. Examination of the bag containing camera equipment revealed that remnants of a 9-volt battery sustained damage consistent with a catastrophic battery failure. The main component of the 9-volt battery had a flashpoint of 21 degrees Fahrenheit, or room temperature. Other batteries, located in the same pocket of the equipment bag as the 9-volt battery, had unprotected contacts, including two fully charged 14-volt battery packs. One of the 14-volt battery packs displayed significant exterior thermal damage, consistent with damage from coming in contact with another battery. Battery industry research has revealed that a short circuit is the most common cause of battery fires, often initiated by contacts coming into contact with metal objects. Batteries are generally not designed to be able to contain catastrophic failures, and when they go into thermal runaway, they often explode and expel their contents into the environment, potentially causing ignition in areas well beyond the initiating battery cell.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.