A tourist dropped a computer into a gap in the plane’s cargo hold, forcing the pilot to return to the airport to search to avoid the risk of the lithium-ion battery exploding.
On October 15, on a United Airlines flight from Washington (USA) to Rome (Italy), a passenger dropped his laptop into the cargo hold.
The crew could not access the laptop, and the condition of the device after the crash was unknown. Therefore, they had to return to Dulles to retrieve the laptop before flying across the ocean.
According to FlightAware, the flight took off from Dulles International Airport at 10:22 p.m. local time on October 15. When the plane was about 100 miles southeast of Boston, the pilot contacted local air traffic control to ask permission to return to the starting point.
“Sorry, we need permission to return to Dulles,” the pilot said in a recording obtained by the YouTube channel You can see ATC.
Illustration of a passenger using a laptop on an airplane. Image: BA
After receiving permission, the plane turned left to return to Washington. After landing, the maintenance team found the laptop and the flight continued on its journey to Rome, 4.5 hours later than originally scheduled.
“I’ve never heard anything like that. This would be a good story to tell in the pilot lounge,” an air traffic controller said.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) allows laptops to be brought on planes but must be kept in carry-on luggage because fighting fires in the cargo hold is very difficult.
“Smoke and fire incidents involving lithium batteries may be handled by the crew and passengers within the passenger compartment,” the FAA website states.
Lithium-ion batteries in electronic devices such as laptops, phones, and power banks are a common cause of fires and explosions on airplanes due to the “thermal runaway” phenomenon. According to the FAA, since 2006, more than 600 incidents related to smoke, fire or high temperatures from lithium batteries have been recorded on passenger and cargo flights. The year 2024 reached a record of 89 cases and by August 2025 there were 46 cases, an average of nearly two cases occurring each week in the US alone.
In 2023, on a United Airlines flight from San Diego to New Jersey, a passenger’s external power bank exploded in the cabin, causing burns to seven people, of whom four were hospitalized. The crew used fireproof bags to control the plane and the plane still landed safely.