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- Title
Burnt by His Cellphone During a Parachute Jump.
- Authors
des Robert, Vincent; Saint-Jean, Luc; Corcostegui, Simon-Pierre; Romary, Emeric; Derkenne, Clément
- Abstract
BACKGROUND: Many current cell phone (mobile phone, smartphone) batteries are lithium-ion. These batteries can overheat and catch fire under certain conditions. If it happens during a flight or air activity, this might compromise aviation safety. We report a case of a man whose phone caught fire during a parachute jump. CASE REPORT: The individual, a member of Police Special Forces, is required to regularly perform parachute jumps. During the incident flight, the man had a cell phone in a pocket that ignited during the jump. He was able to land and then extract the phone with burns requiring acute medical care and later a skin graft. DISCUSSION: This is a cautionary tale of lithium-ion batteries in flight. Many other situations could also occur with these batteries. There is little medical documentation of the risk of fire with lithium-ion batteries causing injuries during flight operations. To reduce the risk of fire, the devices should be powered down and phones should not be worn directly touching the skin. Damaged devices are more prone to overheating.
- Subjects
PARACHUTING; CELL phones; ACUTE medical care; LITHIUM-ion batteries; SKIN grafting; AERONAUTICAL safety measures
- Publication
Aerospace Medicine & Human Performance, 2023, Vol 94, Issue 10, p792
- ISSN
2375-6314
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3357/AMHP.6232.2023