Fear mongering
‘A plot to commit murder on an unimaginable scale’ – Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson of Scotland Yard [read more]
What changed on August 10th that made toothpaste and blush tools of death? Airport security is a giant show designed to keep people flying, not to keep people safe. It’s laughable. Just like everything else that gets rushed into place, it looks like the new flight restrictions are here to stay. When will it stop? Crazies can still carry whole water bottles onto subways and busses. They must be stopped.
Sports drinks, toothpaste and rest are completely safe. Despite that fact, airport stores have been forced to pull said contraband to keep us safe (even the stores past security!). The best guess for what explosive would be used is TATP (Triacetone Triperoxide). Listening to the news you would think the ingredients of TATP are Diet Coke and Mentos–too bad it’s actually chemicals like Hydrogen Peroxide, paint thinner and sulfuric acid. If you have the ingredients, TATP is not hard to make, there are directions available all over the place. However it’s hard to make in an airplane lavatory, to be done correctly you need both a heat source and refrigeration. Not to mention a lot of time.
On top of all that, TATP isn’t that great of an explosive to bring something like an airliner down. You need a big hole to kill a plane and that means a lot of TATP. The London bombers had backpacks full and even then weren’t all that successful (half the bombs didn’t even work). According to reports, 10-20 pounds are needed to pack a good punch. Also working against mayhem is that a TATP “bomb” produces very little heat, it’s an entropic explosion. That probably rules out a huge fire, especially since the interior of planes is chocked full of fire-resistant materials. The truth is TATP makes a much better detonator than bomb. That’s actually what “shoebomber” Richard Reid was trying to use it for (PETN was the real explosive), but he couldn’t even manage to set off the super unstable TATP.
All the “security experts” on TV make assembling a liquid explosive bomb powerful enough to take down a wide body jet sound like the easiest thing in the world to do. If that were the case it would have already been done. Use some common sense. It’s probably not impossible, but it’s (thankfully) not easy. In the mean time stop scaring everyone and start double checking people carrying gallons of drain cleaner and paint thinner in their carry-ons.