A United Airlines flight with more than 200 passengers en route to Rome from Virginia had to turn around near the U.S. coast after a passenger’s laptop fell into the plane’s cargo hold. The incident reportedly delayed the plane’s arrival in Italy by more than four hours.
In a statement obtained by The Washington Post, an airline spokesperson said that the computer “had fallen behind a cabin wall and through a small gap leading to the cargo hold.” The lost device forced the pilots to divert the flight on Oct. 15 back to Washington Dulles International Airport out of an “abundance of caution.”
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The lithium batteries in a laptop could overheat in the plane’s pressurized cargo compartment, potentially causing an explosion in a worst-case scenario.
No emergency declared
The flight was just southeast of Boston when it was diverted. One of the pilots reportedly told air traffic controllers in Boston the lost laptop had created a “minor situation.”
“We don’t know the status of it, we can’t access it, we can’t see it,” one pilot said in an audio recording that can be heard on YouTube’s “You can see ATC” aviation channel. “So our decision is to return to Dulles and find this laptop before we can continue over the ocean.”
The pilots did not designate the situation as an emergency, but rather emphasized that they were acting out of an “abundance of caution” due to the risk of leaving the laptop’s battery in a location without a fire suppression system.
‘Good story’ for ‘the pilot lounge’
An air traffic controller replied to the pilot, “I’ve never heard anything like that before. Good story to tell at the pilot lounge.”
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If damaged, lithium-ion batteries can overheat, and potentially ignite in flames or explode, according to UL Standards & Engagement.
United announced that maintenance staff located and retrieved the laptop after the plane landed at Dulles International Airport. The flight was eventually able to depart again for Rome after the inspection was completed.
Flight departs again hours later
According to FlightAware, the plane with 216 passengers departed from northern Virginia at 10:22 p.m. and returned to Dulles more than two hours later. It finally took off again at 3:23 a.m. and landed in Rome approximately 4 1/2 hours later than originally planned.
Risk of lithium batteries on flights
Many airlines have restrictions on battery-powered devices in the cargo holds of planes. Vape pens or spare lithium batteries are only allowed in carry-on bags, according to Federal Aviation Administration regulations.
Lithium batteries pose a risk of overheating, which can create a fire hazard aboard planes.
Other flights diverted due to lost cellphones
Other flights have been diverted because of lost cellphones. Two Air France flights turned around earlier this year because passengers lost their phones, and the airline deemed it a safety risk as the devices might overheat, the Post reported.
Hassan Shahidi, president and CEO of the Flight Safety Foundation, previously told the Post that if a cellphone were to get stuck in a seat, pressure could cause the device to heat up and spark a fire. He also notes that “It’s a very difficult space to get in there if it starts catching fire or smoking.”
Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the cargo compartment was unpressurized. The compartment was, in fact, pressurized, and the article has been updated to reflect the corrected information.
