A flight from Brisbane to Melbourne was met by firefighters after landing on Sunday afternoon, after smoke was seen coming from a vape on board.
The pilots of Virgin Australia flight VA328 issued a “pan” call after a vape activated in the cabin during descent, with smoke seen coming from the device.
What happened on board, and are vapes considered a fire risk on flights?
What happened on board Virgin Australia flight VA328?
A Melbourne airport spokesperson said on Sunday afternoon the airport “responded to a pan call from Virgin Australia flight VA328 from Brisbane after reports a vape had activated on board the aircraft”.
A passenger is understood to have alerted the crew when smoke was seen coming from the device.
“As a precaution and in accordance with standard procedures, emergency services were placed on standby,” the airport spokesperson said. “The Boeing 737 aircraft landed safely and taxied to the gate where passengers were able to disembark normally.”
Sign up for the Breaking News Australia emailAviation Rescue firefighters followed the aircraft as a precaution and subsequently removed the device from the plane.
A pan call is less urgent than a mayday call but describes a situation that requires an aircraft to receive expedited arrival, such as an in-flight medical emergency.
Are vapes a fire hazard on planes?
Vapes or e-cigarettes are powered by lithium-ion batteries, which are also widely used in mobile phones, computers, electric vehicles. These batteries charge quickly, deliver energy quickly and have long battery life.
However, lithium-ion battery fires have increased in frequency in recent years. Last year, a fire that broke out on a Virgin Australia flight from Sydney to Hobart was believed been caused by a power bank in a passenger’s carry-on luggage.
The batteries in vaping products specifically have been blamed for a growing number of hazardous fires at landfill sites. In 2023, an incorrectly disposed vape caused a fire in a recycling truck in Benalla, in north-east Victoria.
Prof Neeraj Sharma, a battery expert at the University of New South Wales, said lithium-ion battery devices such as vapes and power banks were not as well regulated as mobile phones or laptops and posed more of a fire risk. “People get them from various locations,” he said, citing a wide variation in manufacturing quality.
At the end of their life, most lithium-ion batteries “just slowly lose energy density” and cannot store as much energy. For others, “the battery short circuits and then it suddenly stops working,” Sharma said.
In other cases, thermal runaway – an uncontrollable increase in temperature – can result. “The components of the battery touch each other and generate localised heat,” Sharma said. “That heat generates gas, the gas expands … and that whole thing can start to burn or explode depending on how severe it is.”
Lithium-ion battery fires can reach high temperatures within seconds and release highly toxic gases. Because of their chemical components, burning batteries can develop self-sustaining flames that are difficult to extinguish.
Overheating and physical damage are the main causes of battery failure. People being careless with their vapes – leaving them in hot cars or dropping them, for example – could increase the likelihood of a subsequent thermal runaway event, as would initial manufacturing faults, Sharma said.
Sharma said changes in pressure during a flight could lead to thermal runaway, but that was unlikely to happen for most batteries. “We’ve got lithium-ion batteries in space – they should be able to, and they do, handle [pressure changes].”
If a small device such as a vape or phone catches fire, Dr Adam Best, an advanced lithium battery technology specialist at the CSIRO, recommends dropping it into water.
Best said that the quality of batteries used in vapes were far worse than those in power banks, and did not include safety features that “lock out” the unit in case of damage.
Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority recommends transporting spare batteries and power banks as carry-on luggage only, as “trained aircrew can manage any issues quickly and safely in the cabin”.
What has the been the response to vapes from airlines?
After Sunday’s vape incident, a Virgin Australia spokesperson said: “The safety of our guests and crew is our highest priority, and we thank our crew for their swift response in containing the device.”
Major commercial airline carriers including Virgin, Qantas and Rex stipulate that vapes and other items such as power banks and spare batteries must be packed in carry-on baggage. Use and charging of vaping devices are forbidden on board.
Qantas limits each passenger to carrying a maximum of 15 portable electronic devices for personal use – including vapes, laptops and mobile phones.
