Opening Statement by the Chairman, Board of Inquiry

Introduction of the Board of Inquiry and Technical Panel

Board of Inquiry:

• Member Deborah A.P. Hersman - (Chairman, Board of Inquiry)
• Mr. John DeLisi - Chief, Major Investigations Division, Office of Aviation Safety
• Dr. Joseph Kolly - Deputy Director, Office of Research and Engineering
• Mr. Bob Chipkevich - Director, Office of Railroad, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety

Hearing Officer:

• Mr. Todd Gunther - Major Investigations Division, Office of Aviation Safety

• Mr. Frank Hilldrup - Investigator-in-Charge, Office of Aviation Safety
• Mr. Todd Gunther - Cargo Group Chairman, Office of Aviation Safety
• Ms. Nancy McAtee - Fire Group Chairman, Office of Research and Engineering
• Mr. Joseph Panagiotou - Fire and Explosion Investigator, Office of Research and Engineering
• Mr. Jim Henderson - Hazardous Materials Group Chairman, Office of Railroad, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety

• Ms. Lauren Peduzzi - Public Affairs Specialist, Office of Public Affairs

• Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
• Pipeline/Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
• UPS Airlines
• Boeing Commercial Airplane Group
• Independent Pilots Association
• City of Philadelphia

Introduction of Exhibits by Hearing Officer
     Selected exhibit items are available online; see Docket Table of Contents for more information.

Opening Speech by the Investigator-in-Charge
Text: HTML
Presentation: [ PDF (2.19 MB) | PPT (5.86 MB) ]
    Video from presentation, courtesty of CBS affiliate of Philadelphia. [WMV (591 KB)]

Swearing-In and Testimony of Witnesses

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TOPIC #1: Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting Response (ARFF)

1. Philadelphia International Airport ARFF   

• Capt. Gary Loesch (PHL ARFF)
  
  • Presentation: [ PDF (5.86 MB)]               

Issue areas:

• Obstacles/Challenges in PHL                        
• ARFF Training
• Changes since the accident 

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TOPIC #2:  Design, Testing, and Failure Modes of Lithium Batteries

2. Lithium Battery Panel    

• Mr. Jason Howard  (Motorola)
  • Presentation: [ PDF (439 KB)]  
    
• Mr. Richard Stern (CPSC)
  • Presentation: [ PDF (2.43 MB) | PPT (759 KB) ] 
• Mr. Harry Webster (FAA)
  • Presentation: [ PDF (1.06 MB) | PPT (655 KB) ] 
     Videos to this presentation are available by request from the Records Management Division.

Issue areas:

• History of Lithium Ion Batteries.
• Why the switch from other types of batteries?
• Compare lithium ion batteries with other common batteries.
• How do they work?
• Variety of designs.
• What safeguards are designed into them?
• Regulations – testing and Q/C.
• What failures have occurred and why?
• Fire test program for lithium batteries and results.
• Incidents and accidents involving lithium batteries.
• CPSC history of lithium battery incidents.
• Other battery related incidents – differences – similarities – fires?

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TOPIC #3:  Operations and Regulations Concerning Lithium Batteries

3. Operations/Regulations Panel          

• Mr. Bill Wilkening (FAA)   
  
  • Presentation: [ PDF ( 1.08 MB) | PPT (639 KB) ] 
• Mr. Bob Richard (PHMSA)
• Mr. Sam Elkind (UPS)                                                                   

Issue areas:

• DOT’s regulations & rulemaking for shipment of lithium batteries.
• History of regulations from 1980’s Flammable solid-dangerous when wet to today’s Class 9 miscellaneous materials and totally excepted.
• Justification for reducing hazard level & identification.
• Current regulations.
• Exceptions for Lithium Ion Batteries in equipment.
• International regulations & rulemaking-design and testing-Q/C.
• Incidents and accidents involving Lithium Batteries.
• FAA’s Authority (Differences from PHMSA).
• FAA’s role in rulemaking.
• Unique nature of air transportation.

• Incidents and accidents involving lithium batteries, other batteries, and equipment containing batteries.
• Civil penalties –
  • How do we identify undeclared haz mat?
  • How do we identify batteries in equipment?
• Problems with lithium batteries in air cargo transportation.  
• Methods, current or proposed, for identifying and handling lithium batteries in air cargo transportation. 

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TOPIC #4: Aircraft Fire Detection and Suppression, Systems and Regulations

4. FAA/FedEx Panel

• Mr. Dave Blake (FAA)                                                                                            
• Mr. Neil Schalekamp (FAA)
• Mr. Thomas Toula (FAA)
• Mr. Ron Wickens (FedEx)
  
  • Presentation: [ PDF (428 MB) | PPT (568 KB) ] 

Issue areas:

• General information on suppression systems/technology on aircraft.
• Dynamics of systems.
• Difficulties faced by systems (fuel load, containment, etc.).
• Suppression systems tested at the Tech Center.
• Presentation on FedEx suppression system.
• History of fire suppression regulations on aircraft.
• Current regulations.
• Differences in regulations between cargo aircraft and passenger aircraft and justification for differences.

Closing Statement by the Chairman, Board of Inquiry