Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP), LOUISVILLE, KY. (WDRB Fox 41) -- Safety advocates have warned for more than a decade that someday an air shipment of lithium batteries like those used in cameras, cell phones and countless other products would catch fire, causing a plane to crash and people to die. That day may have arrived last month. A United Parcel Service cargo plane with a fire raging on board, and carrying a large quantity of lithium batteries, crashed near Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on Sept. 3, killing both pilots. 48-year-old Captain Doug Lampe from Louisville and 38-year-old First Officer Matthew...

SNIP Representative Jane Harman, a California Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, said Friday that the packages seized in Britain and Dubai contained PETN, the same chemical explosive contained in the bomb sewn into the underwear of the Nigerian man who tried to blow up an airliner over Detroit last Dec. 25. That plot, too, was hatched in Yemen, a country that is regarded as one of the most significant fronts in the battle with extremists. Ms. Harman, who was briefed by John S. Pistole, administrator of the Transportation Security Administration, said that both packages contained computer printer cartridges...

The United Parcel Service (UPS) aircraft ran into technical trouble shortly after leaving for Germany from Dubai International Airport. The Boeing 747-400 was diverted to a nearby air force base but caught fire, hit a covered parking lot, then bounced and crashed, a government source said. There were no injuries on the ground. The plane suddenly vanished, Saif al-Suwaidi, general manager of civil aviation in Dubai, said. "The pilot reported fire and smoke in the cockpit and was instructed to return to Dubai," Mr Suwaidi said. "After failing to land at the airport, the plane disappeared from radar screens and...

A cargo plane has crashed at an air force base shortly after take-off from Dubai airport, killing two crew members on board, officials say. There were no injuries on the ground and commercial air traffic was not affected, they added. The plane was a Boeing 747 belonging to US company United Parcel Service (UPS).