On September 9 Patently Apple reported that U.S. Federal Aviation Administration had issued a warning stating: "In light of recent incidents and concerns raised by Samsung about its Galaxy Note 7 devices, the Federal Aviation Administration strongly advises passengers not to turn on or charge these devices on board aircraft and not to stow them in any checked baggage." I'm sure that the FAA now wished that they had called for a ban because Southwest Airlines flight 944 from Louisville to Baltimore today was evacuated while still at the gate because of a smoking Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphone. All passengers and crew exited the plane via the main cabin door and no injuries were reported, according to a Southwest Airlines spokesperson.

The Verge reports that "More worryingly, the phone in question was a replacement Galaxy Note 7, one that was deemed to be safe by Samsung.

The owner of the replaced Note 7 Brian Green, said that he had powered down the phone as requested by the flight crew and put it in his pocket when it began smoking. He dropped it on the floor of the plane and a 'thick grey-green angry smoke' was pouring out of the device. Green's colleague went back onto the plane to retrieve some personal belongings and said that the phone had burned through the carpet and scorched the subfloor of the plane.

He said the phone was at around 80 percent of battery capacity when the incident occurred and that he only used a wireless charger since receiving the device. Southwest Airlines canceled the flight and is rebooking passengers, including Green, on later flights. For more on this read the full Verge report here.

Could you imagine the panic that would have generated should this have happened at flying altitudes? And here the South Korean press on September 12 was yelling that the U.S. was punishing Samsung to assist Apple – a conspiracy from hell. What will they say now? Shame on them!

This incident should now push the FAA to ban all Samsung phones on flights until further notice. And this isn't the first time a replacement has had problems. A number of people were reporting crazy battery drain issues on September 26. Samsung was claiming that they put safety ahead of profits, but it's beginning to look as if they didn't get to the root problem and the risks still exist.

Who would trust buying a Samsung Note 7 for Christmas now? Who wants to give the gift of an exploding phone or one that could burn a home or a car of a loved one. With Samsung lying about everything being back on track and running smoothly with their Note 7 replacements, every U.S. agency should now force a cooling down period so that the replacement phones could be thoroughly tested in the U.S. before going back on sale for the holidays.

As if this is news to most, but Samsung just can't be trusted on this issue any longer. They're only thinking of saving their quarter or year from collapsing profits. Customer safety is obviously not a concern, contrary to their official statements.   

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