American Airlines canceled several flights after a passenger’s device ignited, creating smoke in the aircraft and necessitating an unscheduled landing.
The flight, which was heading from Philadelphia to Phoenix with 160 passengers and six crew members, detected a smoke smell once it landed safely at Washington Dulles International Airport on Saturday.
Passenger Adriana Novello, 22, recounted to ABC News how she was startled awake when a flight attendant dashed towards the exit row in a rush to grab one of the fire extinguishers. “Then I started sniffing smoke and a lot of people on the plane were coughing,” she mentioned. “But I looked behind me, and all we could tell was that there was something burning in the aisle.”
Emergency responders greeted American Airlines Flight 357 when it landed around 11:50 AM on Saturday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
American Airlines stated that the device was quickly managed by the crew before they landed.
With the growing presence of gadgets like mobile phones and portable chargers, reports of in-flight fires have noticeably increased. The FAA noted a staggering 388% rise in fires caused by these devices over the past decade.
A more recent incident involved a Batik Air flight from Malaysia to Bangkok, where a power bank caught fire just before landing, filling the cabin with smoke, as shown in a viral TikTok video.
The flight attendants managed to extinguish the flames using a fire extinguisher and a water bottle available in the cabin.
A similar event occurred last winter when a power bank exploded on an AirAsia flight in Thailand, also releasing smoke into the cabin.
Just this week, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) updated its “Don’t Pack” list, adding items like curling irons or flat irons with gas cartridges or butane refills, though coded versions remain allowed.
