Girl's iPhone bursts into flames mid-flight: 'I thought we were going down'
SEATTLE -- A local girl got the shock of her life Thursday night when her iPhone burst into flames midair on a flight to Hawaii.
Anna Crail says she was watching a movie on the way to spring break when flames started shooting out of her iPhone 6.
"When it started I thought we were going down, and I was like, 'oh my god, there's a fire on the plane,'" Crail said.
The flight from Bellingham was carrying 163 passengers high above the Pacific Ocean when the fire started.
"All of the sudden there was like 8-inch flames coming out of my phone," Crail said from Honolulu. "And I flipped it off onto the ground and it got under someone's seat, and the flames were just getting higher and a bunch of people stood up."
Alaska Air says its crews are trained for this type of situation and the fire was quickly put out. Aviation expert John Nance said while most airlines have banned hoverboards because of fire danger, there's very little concern of that happening with cell phones.
"First of all, it would have to be an occurrence on a daily basis before that would ever be tolerated by the flying public," Nance said. "This is not the sort of situation where you have a hoverboard in the overhead, or stuffed in baggage, which is a big concern. The iPhones are almost universal on your person or right by you, so this is not something that's not going to be discovered until it's a problem."
Nance said Thursday's fire is another reason to always keep your phone on airplane mode, because searching for a signal the whole time can wear out your battery.
Representatives from Apple and the FAA did not return calls for comment on the story.
