An unusual incident occurred on a Lufthansa flight from Los Angeles to Munich: The airline’s giant Airbus A380, operating regular flight number LH453, had to make a planned emergency landing at Boston Airport on Wednesday following an unexpected malfunction – an iPad that got stuck inside the mechanism of a business class seat. Due to concerns that the device, which contains a lithium-ion battery, might overheat and cause a fire, it was decided to take exceptional precautionary measures and stop the flight on its way to Europe.
The flight took off from Los Angeles International Airport on April 23 at 5:47 PM, with a slight delay from the original schedule, carrying 461 passengers on board. During the flight, when the plane was at an altitude of about 35,000 feet over Canada, approximately 300 miles northwest of the city of Winnipeg, it was reported that one of the business class passengers had lost his tablet, which became trapped inside the seat mechanism.
In light of previous incidents in which lithium-ion batteries caused severe fires during flights, the cockpit crew and air traffic control jointly decided to divert the aircraft and land in Boston for immediate handling of the issue. A Lufthansa spokesperson stated: "To eliminate any potential risk, especially in terms of possible overheating, it was decided to land in Boston, where a Lufthansa technical team addressed the malfunction. At Lufthansa, the safety of passengers and crew is always our top priority."
The aircraft landed in Boston at 2:41 AM local time, still exceeding its maximum landing weight due to the large amount of fuel that had not yet been consumed. Upon inspection after landing, it was found that the iPad already showed signs of deformation due to the pressure created in the seat. The Lufthansa team at the airport handled the device and conducted additional checks to ensure there was no further danger to the continuation of the flight.
About an hour and a half later, the plane took off again from Boston toward Munich, arriving at its final destination with a delay of three hours from the originally scheduled time. Despite the inconvenience caused to the passengers, Lufthansa emphasized that this was a necessary precautionary measure, in light of lessons learned from previous battery fire incidents on commercial flights.
Many airlines around the world are careful to update procedures regarding the handling of electronic devices during flights. In cases where a tablet or mobile phone becomes trapped in a seat or falls into an inaccessible area, the instruction is to avoid any independent attempts to retrieve it and to immediately call the crew, in order to prevent irreversible damage or even a safety disaster.