Litium battery thermal event Incident Airbus A330-343 G-VKSS,
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ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 226805
 
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Date:Thursday 4 July 2019
Time:20:00
Type:Silhouette image of generic A333 model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different    
Airbus A330-343
Owner/operator:Virgin Atlantic
Registration: G-VKSS
MSN: 1201
Year of manufacture:2011
Engine model:Rolls-Royce Trent 772-B60
Fatalities:Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 217
Aircraft damage: None
Location:Boston-Logan International Airport (KBOS), MA -   United States of America
Phase: En route
Nature:Passenger - Scheduled
Departure airport:New York-John F. Kennedy International Airport, NY (JFK/KJFK)
Destination airport:London-Heathrow Airport (LHR/EGLL)
Confidence Rating: Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources
Narrative:
Virgin Atlantic flight VS138 to London diverted to Boston, Massachusetts, USA about 30 min after departing JFK, after a lithium battery powerbank for a mobile phone suffered a thermal runaway between two seats. According to the FAA this caused a seat cushion to catch fire.

Sources:

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/virgin-atlantic-plane-emergency-landing-london-new-york-boston-11694358
https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/05/us/virgin-atlantic-flight-fire-diverted/index.html
https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/5/20682879/virgin-atlantic-flight-battery-pack-charger-fire-boston-new-york-london

History of this aircraft

Other occurrences involving this aircraft
19 January 2013 G-VKSS Virgin Atlantic 0 Orlando International Airport, FL (MCO/KMCO) sub
Bird strike
1 July 2021 G-VKSS Virgin Atlantic Airways 0 Milano/Malpensa Airport min
7 January 2024 G-VKSS Virgin Atlantic 0 over the Irish Sea non
Inflight smoke

Revision history:

Date/timeContributorUpdates
05-Jul-2019 07:07 harro Added
06-Jul-2019 06:07 ErinBensen Updated [Time, Total occupants, Location, Source, Narrative]
06-Jul-2019 06:17 harro Updated [Source, Narrative]
06-Jul-2019 06:38 harro Updated [Narrative]

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