Exploding soda cans are increasingly occurring on Southwest Airlines flights. CNN reports that there have been hundreds of such incidents, some of which have injured flight crew members. A Southwest Airlines spokesperson said the company is aware of the problem and is taking steps to prevent it.
In June alone, more than 100 cases of soda cans exploding during flights on Southwest Airlines were reported, Bill Bernal, president of the airline’s flight attendants union, told CNN. In some of those incidents, crew members were injured while serving drinks to passengers.
The problem isn’t new, Bernal added, and has been going on “for years,” but it’s gotten more severe this year. He expects there to be 300 cases of beverage can explosions on Southwest Airlines flights in July alone.
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Exploding cans on a plane
Why are cans exploding on these airlines? CNN explains that the explanation is simple. Southwest Airlines is an airline that mainly flies short-haul domestic flights within the United States. That’s why the airline is the only major U.S. carrier that doesn’t have fresh food storage on its planes, specifically refrigerators or coolers. However, this creates a risk that the carbon dioxide trapped in the soft drinks will cause the cans to explode from the inside.
The temperature increases the pressure inside these cans, explains Professor Kate Bieberdorf, a chemist at the University of Texas at Austin. When the can is exposed to heat, the carbon dioxide in the soda separates, expands, and puts more and more pressure on the inside of the can. Therefore, such cans in a hot place are like “little bombs” that can explode at the slightest movement, the expert explains. – I don’t want to say this to scare people, but this is how you should actually think (cans in a hot room – ed.) – says Professor Bieberdorf.
Meanwhile, record-breaking heat waves that have hit the United States this year have been blamed for a growing number of can explosions on airplanes. This results in beverage cans being exposed to extremely high temperatures, especially at airports in the hottest parts of the country, such as Las Vegas, Phoenix, Houston and Dallas.
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Southwest Airlines is aware of the issue.
“We are aware of the issue and are taking steps to store our beverages in cooler conditions, especially at airports with extreme temperatures,” a spokesperson for the airline told CNN in a statement. According to the airline, trucks are being used to cool the beverages before they are transported on board, and the temperature of the cans is measured in advance.
But the company did not confirm the number of cases in which packages exploded on board the plane.
Boeing 737-700 Southwest AirlinesMarkus Mainka / Shutterstock
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