OK, from the horse's mouth:<p><a href="http://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId=14233" rel="nofollow">http://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId...</a><p>And here's a good document dealing with Lithium-Ion battery hazards:<p><a href="http://www.nfpa.org/assets/files/pdf/research/rflithiumionbatterieshazard.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.nfpa.org/assets/files/pdf/research/rflithiumionba...</a><p>I have a lot of experience with Lithium Polymer batteries as I fly eletric-powered radio-controlled helicopters and planes that use them. There are always reports of LiPo (as they are commonly known) packs puffing-up and sometimes catching on fire and even exploding (more like the popping of a pop-corn bag except that you have flames shooting out of it). I have personally exploded a small 3S (three cells in series) pack just to see the mechanism and the magnitude of the effect. I have to say that it took a LOT of work to explode the pack. I over-charged it to a ridiculous degree.<p>Now, of course, there are also reports of packs catching on fire for no apparent reason at all. There are many explanations out there. The best I came across was from a PhD Chemist who explained it something like this (paraphrasing, of course): When these batteries are assembled there's moisture in the surrounding environment. And, while moisture is kept in check, some of it stays in the pack. They can't run a super-dry environment because it could be very dangerous. One of the electrodes is lithium-oxide infused in carbon. Lithium reacts with water, which gives you hydrogen. Carbon reacts with hydrogen to give you methane. As methane is generated the cell puff-up. If thermal runaway is triggered through other mechanisms and the methane ignites: kaboom!<p>I keep about thirty LiPo packs in strong locked and vented steel container (heavy toolbox) in the garage away from flammable materials and flame sources. When we go to the flying field the same container is used to transport to the field. While at the field the container is always locked and, if possible, removed from the car. I have never had an incident I did not cause.<p>As far as the Boeing issues. Hard to say from the outside. It could boil down to quality issues at their battery supplier. It is probably impossible to perform a full inspection on these kinds of batteries on delivery. How do you determine if there's too much moisture inside a sealed package?