'Damage to Galaxy Note 7 battery led to smoke in flight'

NEW DELHI: Damage to the battery of a Samsung Galaxy Note 7 led to smoke emanating from a laptop bag kept in the overhead baggage compartment of a flight from Singapore to Chennai in September, as per the findings by aviation regulator DGCA.

On September 23 this year, cabin crew observed smoke emanating from a mobile phone kept in a laptop bag in the overhead baggage rack in the flight.

According to the government, action was taken to control and douse the affected article as per procedure while no injury to any passenger or crew was reported.

"Matter was investigated by DGCA and during the investigation, it was observed that the damage to the battery of a Samsung Galaxy Note 7 had led to the said occurrence," Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Jayant Sinha said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha today.

Against incidents of fire involving Samsung Galaxy Note 7, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued a public notice not to carry the smartphone on board including in checked-in luggage/carge on any aircraft operating to, from or within India.

While issuing the instructions, advisories/ guidelines issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) were taken into consideration, Sinha said.

Besides, the watchdog has issued a CAR (Civil Aviation Requirement) in this regard.

"Electronic devices, intentionally transmitting radio signals like mobile/cellular phones, amateur radio transceivers etc., if carried on board, shall be kept in non- transmitting mode (commonly referred to as flight/airplane mode)," Sinha said quoting the CAR.

In a separate written reply, the Minister said the Ministry has proposed to shift the money accrued on account of Passenger Service Fee (PSF) to the Consolidated Fund of India.

"In order to streamline the process of PSF (Security Component) levied on embarking passengers, Ministry of Civil Aviation has sent a proposal to Ministry of Finance, recommending therein a mechanism by which the PSC (SC) collected shall be deposited by the airport operator on a monthly basis into the Consolidated Fund of India," he said.

He also noted that in the proposal sent to the Finance Ministry, no change in the provisions related to rate of PSF (SC) has been proposed.