iPhone combusts, burns on Australian flight

Written by James Delahunty @ 28 Nov 2011 7:22 User comments (25)

Australian airline reports case of burning iPhone on flight.

Regional Express, Australia's largest independent regional airline, issued a press release on an incident shortly after a flight landed late last week. Flight ZL319 had just landed when a passenger's mobile phone started emitting a significant amount of dense smoke, and started glowing red.

A Flight Attendant extinguished the burning phone immediately and no passengers or crew were harmed. Regional Express reported the incident to the Australian Transport Safety Board (ATSB) and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA).

The mobile phone in question is identified as an Apple iPhone, which shows a significant amount of damage to the rear of the phone. Reports online indicate that the iPhone shows evidence that the burning came from the battery, which would explain the red glow and the release of smoke.

Tags: Apple iPhone

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25 user comments

128.11.2011 09:04

Mysttic

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But funny how it doesn't state what Iphone model.

228.11.2011 11:36

porosus

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Originally posted by Mysttic:
But funny how it doesn't state what Iphone model.

From the look of the side buttons, it's at least an iphone 4. don't know if there's a huge difference in the look between 4 and 4s. Another reason I'll stick to my droid.

328.11.2011 12:00

plutonash

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4S has two antennas on each side. looks like a 4. you hear strange stories like this all the time. Like the one with the guy who dropped his iphone off a plane and it still worked

428.11.2011 12:08

SgtDavis

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I'm not really surprised by this. I have an iPhone 4 that tends to heat up noticeably in the right half of the battery area while running energy-intensive apps like Netflix. It hasn't burst into flames yet, but it's been enough to make me set the phone down.

That having been said, I think this is a great opportunity to give the iFire app a 5-star review in the App Store.

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 28 Nov 2011 @ 12:09

528.11.2011 14:21

LordRuss

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The poor guy will probably get the same"out of warranty" spiel, patted on the ass & sent out the door. Come six years later if he still has the phone they'll finally admit to some form of wrong doing about the battery & issue a recall, but for the exact same phone only.

Sound familiar?

628.11.2011 16:37

aw2600

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Originally posted by LordRuss:
The poor guy will probably get the same"out of warranty" spiel, patted on the ass & sent out the door. Come six years later if he still has the phone they'll finally admit to some form of wrong doing about the battery & issue a recall, but for the exact same phone only.

Sound familiar?

Might end up like the first generation iPod Nanos - replaced years after the fact. I dusted off my unused but still functioning Nano and sent it in to Apple about two weeks ago. The repair status indicates that a replacement is pending. If nothing else I'll get an iPod with a fresh battery out of the deal.

Maybe five years from now Apple will offer new battey replacements to people that are still hanging onto an iPhone 4.

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 28 Nov 2011 @ 4:38

728.11.2011 16:42

jookycola

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All I can do is laugh. I'm sure Apple will just say he's charging it wrong.

828.11.2011 21:20

XdjxedxdX

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It's probly because it was upside down and in a case shoulda had some air flow. Ya definitely not apples fault. LMAO then again they all put up a fuss and deny everything or they wouldn't be multi billion dollar companies now would they.

Thieves the lot of em.

929.11.2011 00:34

KillerBug

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He was holding it wrong. The correct way to hold an iPhone is far away from your body, with tongs. Or better yet, leave it at the store and buy an Android instead!

Apple can't even just recall the batteries because they are not user replaceable...and since they have trouble just keeping up with demand for new sales, you can bet they won't issue a recall for a long time if ever.

1029.11.2011 10:40

GI2

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Apple needs to repair the batteries or Steve will go "End of the world" on them before 2012.

1129.11.2011 14:11

core2kid

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Originally posted by aw2600:

Originally posted by LordRuss:
The poor guy will probably get the same"out of warranty" spiel, patted on the ass & sent out the door. Come six years later if he still has the phone they'll finally admit to some form of wrong doing about the battery & issue a recall, but for the exact same phone only.

Sound familiar?
Might end up like the first generation iPod Nanos - replaced years after the fact. I dusted off my unused but still functioning Nano and sent it in to Apple about two weeks ago. The repair status indicates that a replacement is pending. If nothing else I'll get an iPod with a fresh battery out of the deal.

Maybe five years from now Apple will offer new battey replacements to people that are still hanging onto an iPhone 4.

I'm still waiting on a box for the damn thing.

1229.11.2011 14:24

LordRuss

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Originally posted by core2kid:
I'm still waiting on a box for the damn thing.

They're probably pouring over it with a microscope in hopes of 'any' excuse to not honor their own recall. Despite the 6 year hold off.

1329.11.2011 14:25

core2kid

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Originally posted by LordRuss:

Originally posted by core2kid:
I'm still waiting on a box for the damn thing.
They're probably pouring over it with a microscope in hopes of 'any' excuse to not honor their own recall. Despite the 6 year hold off.

Haha. I mean I haven't even shipped it to them. I had 4 also, 2 originally and 2 more I bought from a friend when they upgraded. 1/4 still work and thats the one where I replaced the battery.

1429.11.2011 18:06

aldan

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anyone ever see one of these burst into flames......me neither.

1530.11.2011 09:22

Reich67

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Originally posted by aldan:
anyone ever see one of these burst into flames......me neither.

Absolutely, definitely YES. I have a picture of one still in flames, but Apple denies liability.

1630.11.2011 10:46

LordRuss

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Originally posted by aldan:
anyone ever see one of these burst into flames......me neither.

Never saw the Eiffel Tower either, doesn't mean I doubt its validity...

1730.11.2011 16:06

xnonsuchx

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Originally posted by aldan:
anyone ever see one of these burst into flames......me neither.

There have been a few dozen instances of similar issues (out of tens of millions)...some of which were rather dubious and a few due to cheap 3rd party chargers feeding too much voltage/amps, but there's likely to be a few instances of it being a manufacturing fault (usually by the battery supplier(s)). It happens to other phones too...just those one in a million (or several million) chances something's not quite right.

1830.11.2011 23:25

aldan

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yeah i can believe a faulty charger can cause enough heat but a phone battery? take a phone battery and short it across the pos an neg terminals with a wire.then add some combustible material.i dont think anything dramatic is going to happen.now take a real leap and imagine a phone developing such a short and actually starting on fire.if you are going to take a picture or video in this day and age as proof,i feel sorry for you.not trying to defend apple here,but as a tradesperson for over 35 years i like a little proof.

191.12.2011 10:55

Reich67

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Two of our iPhone4s burned at nearly identical times -- one powered off and the other on. Neither connected to any external source at the time, and hadn't been for several hours. When being charged, never used anything but the OEM cabling supplied with the phone. Can't blame the house wiring (as Apple tried to do) because the house is less than one year old and was thoroughly inspected by an independent before final closing last January. What say you now?

201.12.2011 19:19

aldan

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pretty doubtfull its your house wiring.i take it the phone was on a charger when this happened.i still want to know how a phone,by itself,can conflagrate.

212.12.2011 03:36

xboxdvl2

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if something in the phone was to short curcuit and cause a spark and there was flamable material inside the phone it could ignite and burst into flames.

222.12.2011 05:34

KillerBug

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Originally posted by xnonsuchx:

Originally posted by aldan:
anyone ever see one of these burst into flames......me neither.

There have been a few dozen instances of similar issues (out of tens of millions)...some of which were rather dubious and a few due to cheap 3rd party chargers feeding too much voltage/amps, but there's likely to be a few instances of it being a manufacturing fault (usually by the battery supplier(s)). It happens to other phones too...just those one in a million (or several million) chances something's not quite right.

The instances of actual fires are low, but are still too high considering the high price people paid and the low quality parts that cause the problems. Anyway, even if you don't have a fire, you still have a dead LiOn battery after only a year, when a cheap aftermarket battery lasts 3 years and a good one lasts 7-10 years...and you can't change the battery because it is made by Apple.

232.12.2011 09:05

Reich67

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Originally posted by aldan:
pretty doubtfull its your house wiring.i take it the phone was on a charger when this happened.i still want to know how a phone,by itself,can conflagrate.

Nope, not at all. As I stated earlier, neither phone was connected to any external device. One, powered off, was sitting on a bedside table, and the other, not powered off, was sitting on the kitchen counter. Damages to both occurred at the same time -- approx 1:40 AM.

242.12.2011 10:11

KillerBug

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Originally posted by aldan:
pretty doubtfull its your house wiring.i take it the phone was on a charger when this happened.i still want to know how a phone,by itself,can conflagrate.

Poorly made Li-On batteries can self-ignite even when not charging. They have to be really, really poorly made...like bottom of the barrel for China for this to happen when not charging or discharging. Of course it is just that kind of battery that Apple uses in all of their devices; that is why the lack of replaceable batteries is such a huge problem. The devices could at least be semi-useful if you could install an after-market battery without voiding the warranty.

Just hang onto your iPhone4S. I am sure Apple will issue a recall in 6 years when the thing is worth about $10 on ebay.

256.12.2011 19:03

xZeZo95x

Unverified new user

Well... I think that the apple logo should look like an apple with a circle covering small bit of the apple ,,, unfortunetly this one is covered by steve jobs face!! I dont belive that crap, only if he changed the back cover wich makes it burn caz it's not origional!?

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