Lithium-Ion Batteries Worry Me!

I wish somebody would fully explain and solve the questions/problems of these batteries on board flights. How dangerous are they (I read this week that three airline fires have been caused)? What batteries are included (some say smart phones are dangerous in flight and I saw a picture this week of an overhead-bin fire)? What’s being done about it (other than the fact that Delta and United won’t ship them anymore)?

I wish I had the answers, or at least the questions. Seems to me that United and Delta are way ahead of the guvmint on this safety issue. The fact that those airlines would turn down income rather than ship the batteries indicates that something is going on that bears digging into.

My big question is, are we doing enough about this problem? If not, why not? Hey, three airplane fires? Where’s the hullabaloo? Am I just making a fuss over nothing?

Georgia’s erstwhile poet, Sidney Lanier, once wrote in his beautiful poem, “The Marshes of Glynn” (I grew up in Glynn County in coastal Georgia):

            And I would I could know what swimmeth below

            when the tide comes in

That’s the way I feel about this question—what’s going on under the surface? 

What sayeth our readers? Do you have answers—or questions?