FAA Tightens Safeguards On Lithium Batteries On Airplanes

(RTTNews) - Three years after fire-prone lithium batteries led to the temporary grounding of Boeing Co.'s (BA) flagship 787 fleet world-wide, U.S. regulators are ratcheting up safety standards, as they approve use of various types of lithium power cells on different airliners and business aircraft.

The recent approvals cover nonrechargeable lithium batteries, which industry officials said are used to power everything from emergency exit signs to cockpit equipment to emergency underwater locator devices. The batteries that prompted so much public attention on 787 Dreamliners, by contrast, are larger, more powerful and rely on rechargeable technology to provide backup electric power.

Still, government documents highlight that many of the identified risks are similar between the two categories of batteries. U.S. regulators are relying on lessons learned from earlier problems with 787 batteries to spell out safety rules for a wider array of new applications for nonrechargeable versions on a number of other models.