[GarySpFc]

It doesn't take ten tons. They can make the same stuff that was going to be used on the aircraft quite easily in a few hours if they have the right material and I am sure they could have obtained it.

I had previously read Ricahrd Reid used RDX with a fuse, but no detonator. At the time I thought that was insane, and it was obvious to me why he failed. Having never heard of TATP I looked it up on the web, and discovered it is a new unstable explosive used by terrorists. That said, an explosive capable of cutting steel has to have an extremely fast burn (detonation) rate. Most of the plastics such as Semtex and C-4 can handle the job. I am not familar with TATF, but I question if it has a burn rate sufficent to cut steel. Maybe you can answer that question?

[calex59]

TATP has 5/8 the explosive power of TNT, some say a little more. It achieves it in a different way, I believe. It can be set off by heating it with spark or flame, also a ultrasound device can trigger it. Not to mention after about 7 days it gets really unstable.