Compared to other times when a aerial flight He was forced to hijacking for various emergencies related to the malaise of someone on board or for technical anomalies in the instrumentation found by the pilots, this time it was the personal technology used by one of the passengers who forced a Airbus A380 (the largest airplane in the world) of the Lufthansa to request a emergency landing because a simple and common iPad He remained “stuck” in a business class seat.
What happened on the Lufthansa flight
As told by Business Insiderin fact, it is a flight taken from Los Angeles and headed to Munich with 461 passengers on board. After three hours after take -off, the pilots opted for the right and less risky solution by diverting the flight to Boston’s “Logan” international airport. Let’s imagine the frustration of people on board as soon as the motivation is discovered: the American newspaper a spokesman for Lufthansa made it known that the tablet in question it was “stuck In a business class business seat“Showing”visible signs of deformation due to the movements of the seat“.
The choice of pilots
But why was a simple and common tablet considered so dangerous for the safety of passengers on board? Also with a note, it has been explained that the deviation of the route with its emergency landing has made itself necessary “To eliminate any potential risk, in particular as regards a possible overheating“, added the spokesman, stating that it was a joint crew and air traffic control decision. Devices such as tablets but also normal smartphones and many other devices have lithium batteries which, if damaged, crushed or “pierced” can cause one thermal escape With the risk linked to possible explosions and fires due to excessive heating of the batteries.
The company note
“For Lufthansa, the safety of our passengers and the crew is always the maximum priority. The hijacking was purely precautionary“, The airline later said. After the Airbus A380 made forced stopover to Boston, a team from Lufthansa Technik removed and inspected the damaged tablet. Shortly after the flight it started again in maximum safety landing in Munich on Thursday 24 April with three hours of delay compared to the scheduled time.
Probably an episode of the genre would have also brought other drivers to this choice, even more so for an intercontinental flight of 11 hours where, in a small space like that of a cabin, a possible fire would have really put the safety of people on board at risk.