British Airways B772 near Bermuda on Feb 13th 2020, "this phone will never work again"

Last Update: February 14, 2020 / 21:36:29 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Feb 13, 2020

Classification
Incident

Airline
British Airways

Flight number
BA-2167

Departure
London Gatwick, United Kingdom

Destination
Tampa, United States

Aircraft Registration
G-VIIX

Aircraft Type
Boeing 777-200

ICAO Type Designator
B772

A British Airways Boeing 777-200, registration G-VIIX performing flight BA-2167 from London Gatwick,EN (UK) to Tampa,FL (USA), was enroute at FL380 about 60nm southeast of Bermuda (Bermuda) when the crew decided to divert to Bermuda while smoke from an overheating mobile phone developed, that had been crushed in a business seat mechanism and suffered a thermal runaway. While the flight crew diverted the aircraft cabin crew attempted to release the phone out of the seat mechanism and secure it. The aircraft landed safely in Bermuda about 25 minutes after leaving FL380 and stopped on the runway. Emergency services inspected the outside of the aircraft, that subsequently taxied to the apron.

A passenger reported a fellow passenger in the business class had dropped his mobile phone into the seat, then while trying to get his phone out operated the seat mechanism which crushed the phone. Smoke emanated from the seat. About 20 minutes later they landed in Bermuda, the captain indicated they would need to immediately evacuate the aircraft. It appears fire fighters needed to remove the seat in order to retrieve and secure the phone.

Another passenger reported they were told about fumes/fire from a passenger phone that had been trapped inside a business class seat. After landing in Bermuda the aircraft briefly stopped on the runway, then taxied to a stand where firefighters boarded the aircraft. They were subsequently instructed to disembark without their hand luggage. Later they were able to embark the aircraft again, the aircraft was able to continue the flight before the crew ran out of time. The crew made an announcement: "the phone will never work again".

The aircraft remained on the ground for about 2 hours, then continued to Tampa and reached the destination with a delay of about 2.5 hours.
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Feb 13, 2020

Classification
Incident

Airline
British Airways

Flight number
BA-2167

Departure
London Gatwick, United Kingdom

Destination
Tampa, United States

Aircraft Registration
G-VIIX

Aircraft Type
Boeing 777-200

ICAO Type Designator
B772

This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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