New containers will resist fires of up to 1,200 degrees for up to 4 hours
UPS plans to add fire-resistant air cargo containers to its fleet by next year, the delivery company announced this week as officials blamed the fatal crash of a UPS plane three years ago on a shipment of hundreds of lithium batteries that caught fire.
The battery fire moved quickly inside the plane and set off a “catastrophic” chain reaction of flames and smoke that filled the cockpit, bringing the Boeing 747 down in the desert outside Dubai, according to a report released Wednesday by United Arab Emirates officials.
UPS, which has its main air hub and airline headquarters in Louisville, said it ordered 1,821 of the new shipping containers, which are built of fiber-reinforced plastic similar to ballistic body armor. Delivery of the new containers will begin in September and is expected to be completed by early 2014 and the company will replace existing containers as they wear out with the new ones.
UPS spokesman Malcolm Berkley said the new containers will resist fires of up to 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit for up to four hours.
Brian Gaudet, spokesman for Independent Pilots Association, the union representing UPS pilots, said the fire-resistant containers need to undergo additional testing and that a foam spray currently being tested is necessary for the cargo containers to function adequately.
Berkley said the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety board have not yet certified the foam spray. Calls to the FAA and NTSB seeking comment were not returned.
“We have tested these containers in the laboratory and in live operations,” UPS Airlines President Mitch Nichols said in a statement. “They will enhance safety and increase durability,” he said, adding that the lighter containers would be more fuel efficient.
The 322-page investigation into the crash, which killed both pilots including Capt. Doug Lampe of Prospect, backed up preliminary probes pointing to the lithium batteries as the possible cause of the blaze and drew further attention to the potential risks of the batteries in aviation.
Source: http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20130724/BUSINESS/307240063/UPS-buying-fire-resistant-cargo-containers-after-Dubai-crash-linked-lithium-batteries?nclick_check=1
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