Lithium cargo clue to MH370 fate? | Air Traffic Management | Air Traffic Management - ATM and CMS Industry online, the latest air traffic control industry, CAA, ANSP, SESAR and NEXTGEN news, events, supplier directory and magazine

Lithium cargo clue to MH370 fate? | Air Traffic Management | Air Traffic Management - supplier directory and magazine:



I highly doubt that this is the cause.  You can never rule anything out, but the smoke would have alerted long before it could have burned so hot that it would affect comm.  Seriously...definitely written by one of those anti Li-Bat advocates trying to do everything to make them look bad.  They are dangerous...yes.  But properly packaged, identified and tendered batteries have a seriously mitigated risk and are quite safe.



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IATA DG Board - Los Angeles, March 2014

The Spring Session of the IATA DG Board is in full swing.  As usual, I attend as a Subject Matter Expert / Observer to the board, representing one of the largest airlines in the world.

I wasnt elected this time around, but it was my first nomination.  There will be three more seats coming open in the near future and I am certain that my company will nominate me again.

The first day was uneventful.  Mostly going over all the changes that the ICAO DG Panel approved.  Only some minor editorial changes were discussed, but over all, the changes are moving forward with emerging technologies.

The big discussion was concerning the new CCAR276 changes regarding the permit process for transporting DG in/out/through China.  There is a lot of confusion and frustration regarding the changes.  We are pretty much at a standstill regarding the issue, since the answers we are looking for, do not yet exist.

For the American flag carriers, the FAA is actively working with the CAAC to properly inform the carriers to be able to easily comply.

Day two is a more active discussion as we are going over member proposals.  The big discussion of the morning is regarding GHS and how to minimize the impact of the GHS program to transportation.  The big concern is frustrating freight because frontline employees see these diamond shaped labels and immediately assume that the article is an undeclared DG.  The Board is looking to provide guidance to the industry on how to handle the program requirements when in conjunction with the transportation of these items.

In my opinion, it complicated the transportation process when the GHS committee chose to use diamond shape labels, with no required size standard.  This easily confuses the acceptance and handling agents, who will think that the article is suspect.  So we need to determine how to best mitigate this problem.

The MSDS issue is also a big discussion item. They are standardizing the format, but the responsibility for accuracy is not owned by any singular governing body.  This continues the question of validity.  For example, you can have a product classified three different ways by three different manufacturers.  How do you know which is accurate or if they are all accurate?

More to come Later

CNN Exclusive: Analysis shows Flight 370 crashed in Indian Ocean - CNN.com

CNN Exclusive: Analysis shows Flight 370 crashed in Indian Ocean - CNN.com: "



• Lithium batteries: U.S. officials say investigators are looking into concerns that lithium batteries in the cargo hold, which have been blamed in previous crashes, played a role in the disappearance, according to U.S. officials briefed on the latest intelligence and law-enforcement developments in the investigation. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release details to release details to the media.
If the batteries being carried on the plane caused a fire, it still doesn't fully explain other anomalies with Flight 370, the officials say, such as why it may have turned west and then flown toward the Indian Ocean.
If lithium batteries were smoldering, likely the first instinct of the pilots would have been to turn around and return to the airport -- not fly for an additional five hours, said Arthur Rosenberg, an aviation expert who is a pilot, engineer and partner in the New York-based law firm Soberman & Rosenberg.
It's also likely radio traffic would have initially been picked up, as it was with the pilots aboard Swissair Flight 111 that crashed off the coast of Canada following a fire, he said"



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I knew that someone would try to work this angle.  It just doesn't compute well with all the other anomalies.

IATA Dangerous Goods Board Meeting

I leave for LAX tomorrow to attend the IATA DG Board meeting.  Like the last meeting in Sept., I am a Subject Matter Expert attending as part of the panel.  But I am nominated to be one of the 12 elected members ... Wish me luck!!!

We have a lot to cover in two days, I suspect it will be a busy few days.  I will post what I can!