A Delta Airlines McDonnell Douglas MD-88, registration N965DL performing flight DL-2557 from Norfolk,VA to Atlanta,GA (USA) with 143 passengers and 5 crew, had just reached cruise level 340 when passengers alerted cabin crew to a fire in seat row 34, smoke began to expand. Cabin crew rushed with a fire extinguisher as well as bottles of water, identified the source of the smoke/heat as a cellphone battery and doused the battery with water, other flight attendants began to move about 20 passengers out of the danger/smoke zone. Soon after the overheating battery was cooled down, the smoke began to dissipate, the battery was put into a container. The flight crew continued the flight to Atlanta for a safe landing about 50 minutes later. There were no injuries, there was heat damage to the seats in row 34 however.
The airline confirmed a cellphone battery overheated. The spare battery was not attached to a cell phone at the time.
A passenger tweeted: “You never appreciate flight attendants till there’s a fire in the cabin.”
The Aviation Herald
Spare cell phone battery overheats on Delta Air Lines MD-88
