Originally Posted by
vytas315
Great link! Interesting how they establish a complete ban, but then make it clear that hiding it in checked luggage is the worst scenario and should certainly not be attempted. I also find the recommendation, that upon discovery the device should be kept on the persons so that should something happen it is discovered immediately, very interesting.
I guess based on those statements in the link you can judge what poses the greatest risk to the airplane. I wonder what Samsung's policy is if you're traveling overseas and call to say you can't bring the device home to return it...? I would hope that they would advise how to dispose of the device and process the refund anyways. That would certainly keep me from trying to sneak the device on board!
The most dangerous situation is lithium batteries catching fire in the hold, which is the suspected cause for the
crash of OZ991 in 2011 and contributed to the
crash of UPS6 in 2010.
If the batteries get crushed or otherwise damaged there is potentially an internal short circuit (the batteries don't need to be connected and power flowing), which causes fire and thermal runaway - if that happens in the cargo hold then it becomes that much more difficult to extinguish.