Don't forget that new rules regarding air travel with lithium batteries take effect on January 1. Spare lithium batteries -- meaning those not installed in the devices they are intended to support -- may not be packed in checked bags. Spare batteries in carry-on baggage must remain in the original packaging or be placed in plastic bags so that leads are not exposed.

Batteries, whether spare or installed, are also subject to quantity restrictions. Those with up to 8 [grams]-oz. of lithium, or about 100 watt-hours, are allowed. That includes cell phone lithium ion batteries, as well as most laptop batteries. You can also bring additional spare batteries with an aggregate of up to 25 [grams]-oz. of lithium, or 300 watt-hours. However, you may only bring up to 2 [grams]-oz. of lithium metal per battery. Most consumer lithium metal batteries are below that limit, but check with the manufacturer of your devices if you are unsure.

In a nutshell, traveling with most lithium batteries intended for consumer devices should be okay, but those for professional grade equipment may be confiscated.

The fear is that non-rechargeable lithium batteries may pose a fire hazard. The FAA has found that the fire-protection systems in the cargo holds of passenger planes cannot extinguish fires sparked by lithium batteries. And the NTSB has not ruled out that a fire in a cargo plane at Philadelphia International Airport last year was caused by lithium batteries.

[Updated units of measure.]

Earlier this morning I posted about the GE jet engine which exploded due to fatigue. It quickly became one of our most visited stories today.

Craig, a pilot, commented on his impressions of the GE CF-6 in the comments area and said that he only knew of one in-air incident with the engine, which caused an unscheduled landing of the plane. He guessed that because the media was nearby and able to access the scene of the explosion, that caused coverage of the incident out of proportion to its significance.

GE's web page for the engine in question shows that it has a long and  industrious  history for GE as a workhorse engine. The CF-6 has been in production for more than 30 years, since 1971, and it is the most common high bypass turbofan around. It's very common in widebody aircraft like the Airbus, the A300 series, the Boeing 767 and 747, and the DC-10.

The engine does have some history of 'uncontained failures.' This site points out pictures of the recent failure and notes that in January of this year the NTSB put out a notice about the particular engine in question due to an incident in December of 2002 from an 'uncontained failure' as well as an earlier report in September of 2000.

An American Airlines 767 had a GE jet engine explode during testing two weeks ago in Los Angeles. The explosion caught the plane on fire and tossed chunks some 3,000 feet away. The jet engine had fatigue, which caused the explosion and led to chunks ripping through the airplane's body. Thankfully, there were no injuries to the testers aboard the plane.

However the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating exactly what happened, and it may lead to the NTSB calling for more frequent inspections of GE jet engines.

This tarnishes the engines and GE's reputation. However, more frequent inspection will hopefully lead to any problems getting caught ahead of time, without something like this occurring on a plane full of passengers in the sky. That certainly would have more of a negative impact for all involved.

[picture credit: wikipedia]