Combusting iPhone causes emergency on Australian plane

Published November 29, 2011 6:00pm

An Apple iPhone caused a small emergency aboard an Australian airplane after it glowed red and emit "significant amounts of dense smoke" as the craft touched down in Sydney airport.

Regional Express (Rex) said the incident occurred on its flight ZL319 operating from Lismore to Sydney last November 25.

It said a passenger’s mobile phone "started emitting a significant amount of dense smoke, accompanied by a red glow."

The flight attendant carried out "recovery actions" immediately and the red glow was extinguished successfully, it added.

All passengers and crew on board were unharmed, it said.

Regional Express said the matter has been reported to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) as well as the

Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) for investigation.

"The mobile phone in question appears to be an Apple iPhone and has been handed over to ATSB for analysis," it said.

A separate report on UK's The Register said the phone looked worse for wear - its black plastic "clearly burnt in an area on the lower right hand side and the glass shattered over the burn mark."

"According to phone tear-downs, the iPhone 4's battery sits just below the case in the right-hand side of the device and given the heat involved it is likely to be something to do with the battery," it said. — TJD, GMA News

Tags: apple, appleiphone, airport, australia