All US planes being searched

Fox News Cable | Oct 17, 2003

[TomGuy]

Box cutters, bleach found in 2 packages on Southwest Airlines plane.

All commercial planes in US currently being searched.

developing............

[Jim Noble]

I think the lure of free guided missiles will prove irresistable to the terrorists-and I am sure they will try gas to circumvent the getting beaten to sh*t by the passengers problem.

This could be very, very bad news.

[Jim Noble]

I shudder to think that there would be an entire airplane full of people who would, knowing what we know, allow the aircraft to be hijacked under any circumstances. It doesn't really matter what weapons the hijackers have, be they knives, handguns, or full-auto assault rifles.

AQ tactics 101 will certainly recognize the need to disable the passengers.

[relee]

...What sort of terrorist would leave a note expressing concern for security?

A terrorist looking for a diversion?

[RightWhale]

Sounds like a scam. Somebody is making work, or looking to gain or maintain power.

[Labyrinthos]

If zero risk was possible, that's what they'd opt for. It would be an easy business decision. The fact is, there is no "zero risk" scenario.

I was using "zero risk" as a simplistic example of a rather complex computation for making business decisions. I thought that was obvious. Obvious it was not.

[Samwise]

Nearly knocked myself out once peeing into a toilet my wife had filled with bleach!! Was she cleaning, or was it something else...I wonder!

Sounds like a topic for a Lifetime movie of the week. :^)

[Cboldt]

I figured as much. But I think airlines will strive to minimize risk. No reasonable person wants a plane to go down.

[watchin]

That's just retarded, which is about what I would expect from them.

They hate the U.S. for supporting the Jews, and then convince themselves that the Jews attacked the U.S. ... and we deserved it.

How do these idiots remember to breathe?

[cantfindagoodscreenname]

A little bleach in one small container--mix with ammonia from a second container--creates a highly toxic gas that is lethal.

This is really freaking me out! I absolutely HATE flying, but I had to a few weeks ago. While I was flying, I kept thinking about ways a terrorist could bring down a plane without a bomb or without their "traditional" way (box cutters and brute force.) And chemicals came to mind. I kept telling myself that surely the authorities know that this is a possibility and they have ways to check for this.

And then I find this report.

[Labyrinthos]

I figured as much. But I think airlines will strive to minimize risk. No reasonable person wants a plane to go down.

No reasonable person wants an SUV to roll over or a gas tank to explode either, but auto manufacturers calculate the cost of reducing that risk with the cost of a civil lawsuit all the time. Take the airline industry, again, for example. They could install anti-missle defenses on every commercial jet, which would subtantially reduce the chances of a plane being shot out of the sky. Why then haven't they done it? I suspect the reason is the result of risk analysis: The likelihood of the event vs. the cost of significantly reducing that likelihood vs. the economic impact to the business in the event nothing is done and the event happens.

[Destro]

In that scenario it is a partial failure.

[Cboldt]

Don't forget to include the likelihood of preventive measures being effective.

Take off and landing practices need to be adjusted (i.e., steep climb, dive and turning, as a matter of routine), if we are serious about mounting countermeasures to ground-to-air missile threats.

[Labyrinthos]

All of this goes into the calculation, which is why I don't believe that the airline industry can be left alone to care for airline/airport security subject only to the free flow of economic forces, any more than the direct marketing industry is capable of regulating junk mail, spam, and telephone solicitations.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Which airport?

All of them.

[pesto]

I think some American Carriers fly to Scotland..And the UK has very tight security, has for a long time..So let her go :-)

[MattAMiller]

Not sure what your statement is trying to convey...

I don't think this find presents a great enough threat to warrent this sort of nationwide search. It looks like somebody was trying to test security.

[Cboldt]

All of this goes into the calculation, which is why I don't believe that the airline industry can be left alone to care for airline/airport security subject only to the free flow of economic forces

The TSA and FAA haven't advocated effective countermeasures against the threat of foreign object in airplanes or the threat of ground to air missle. Anyway, it seems as though you have hat you are advocating, FedGov regulation of flight safety as respecting said threats. Criticism is not necessarily unhealthy.

[Darksheare]

Bleach?
Have it in a small bottle and urinate into it.
Instant small area chlorine gas cloud.
Minor irritant, unless it's dense enough to kill people.
Humans make the ammonia naturally.
One would only need to smuggle some bleach onboard.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

• FAA Real Time USA Airport Status Map
  Air Traffic Control System Command Center

[Darksheare]

My sarge from when I was in uniform said he used to pinch off chunks of C-4 and use it like sterno in Vietnam.
Supposedly it's stable enough to do that to.
Something about it being a high explosive and needing the blasting cap to start off the internal pressure wave that high explosives use to generate their blast power or some such.
Not that I'd want to try 'C-4 sterno' myself.

Don't quote me on it, I'm not a demolitionist or an explosives expert.
I was merely an artilleryman.