Dépêches
ALPA Calls for Temporary Ban on Battery Shipments on Airliners
Dépèche transmise le 25 août 2009 par Business Wire

ALPA Calls for Temporary Ban on Battery Shipments on Airliners
WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA) is calling on the U.S. government to prohibit shipments of lithium batteries on passenger and all-cargo aircraft until new regulations are in place to ensure the safe transport of these hazardous materials.
“ALPA has long called for regulations to ensure that safety is the first priority in transporting shipments of lithium batteries aboard airliners,” said First Officer Mark Rogers, director of ALPA’s Dangerous Goods Programs. “Now, the evidence of a clear and present danger is mounting. We need an immediate ban on these dangerous goods to protect airline passengers, crews, and cargo.”
In an August 20, 2009, letter sent to Cynthia Douglass, acting deputy administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), ALPA’s President, Capt. John Prater, pointed to three recent incidents as proof positive of the urgent need to prohibit lithium battery shipments.
During just the past two months, fire, smoke, or evidence of fire associated with battery shipments has occurred aboard three separate U.S. airliners. The incidents, which took place in Minneapolis/Saint Paul, Minnesota, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and Honolulu, Hawaii, were similar to a 2006 battery fire aboard a DC-8 in Philadelphia, Pa. In that accident, the fire was severe and it prompted the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to recommend the full regulation of these types of batteries as dangerous goods.
Lithium batteries provide essential power for millions of Americans every day as they use laptop computers, cell phones, flashlights, and cameras. ALPA is not calling for new restrictions on what passengers are permitted to bring aboard aircraft, but the world’s largest non-governmental aviation safety organization is extremely concerned about the risk from transporting lithium batteries aboard aircraft as cargo.
ALPA has long advocated for improved transport requirements for lithium-ion and lithium-metal batteries. Since 2004, ALPA has urged the Department of Transportation to fully regulate these batteries as dangerous goods, including requiring appropriate packaging, labeling, marking, testing, and pilot notification.
“ALPA calls on the agencies charged with protecting the public from hazardous materials to issue an immediate ban on lithium battery shipments to protect airline passengers, crews and cargo until the proper safety regulations are in place and can be enforced,” said Prater. “If we are not able to secure these protections for the traveling public through swift regulatory action, we will ask Congress to immediately intervene to ensure the safe shipment of lithium batteries.”
Founded in 1931, ALPA is the world’s largest pilots union, representing nearly 53,500 pilots at 36 airlines in the United States and Canada.
- 19/04 Corsair : Premier vol commercial de son premier Airbus A330neo
- 19/04 Point financier easyJet pour les 6 mois se terminant le 31 mars 2020
- 19/04 Le ministère des Armées commande des H225M et un prototype du VSR700 en soutien de l’industrie aéronautique
- 18/04 Airbus signe un contrat avec l'Egypte pour le support technique du C295
- 18/04Air Caraïbes : décès de son Directeur Général
- 18/04 Cathay Pacific cargo a livré 15 millions de doses de vaccins dans le monde
- 18/04 Air Charter Service met en place une nouvelle équipe de direction en France
- 18/04 IndiGo et Air France Industries KLM Engineering & Maintenance signent un nouvel accord
- 18/04 Airbus réduit l'impact environnemental de ses Beluga
- 18/04 Twin Jet adapte son programme vers Le Puy-en-Velay
- 18/04 Derazona sera le premier opérateur H160 en Asie
- 13/04 Airbus : commandes et livraisons du mois de mars 2021
- 13/04 Binter Canarias arrive en France
- 10/04 British Airways lance des vols vers Jersey et Gibraltar depuis London City
- 10/04 VINCI Airports remporte la concession de l’aéroport de Manaus
- 10/04 Safran signe un contrat de service à l’heure de vol avec la Bundespolizei
- 09/04 Qatar Airways opère un vol avec 100 % des passagers vaccinés contre le covid-19
- 09/04 AFI KLM E&M renforce sa coopération avec ASL Airlines Belgium
- 09/04 VistaJet prend livraison de 2 appareils Bombardier Global 7500
- 08/04 Ravitaillement en vol entre deux avions KC-390 Millennium (photos)