Posted on 02/26/2015 1:02:09 PM PST by illiac
The Transportation Security Administration said it is unlikely to detect and unable to extinguish what an FBI report called “the greatest potential incendiary threat to aviation,” according to a classified document obtained by The Intercept. Yet despite that warning, sources said TSA is not adequately preparing to respond to the threat.
Thermite — a mixture of rust and aluminum powder — could be used against a commercial aircraft, TSA warned in a Dec. 2014 document, marked secret [PDF here]. “The ignition of a thermite-based incendiary device on an aircraft at altitude could result in catastrophic damage and the death of every person onboard,” the advisory said.
TSA said it is unlikely to spot an easy-to-assemble thermite-based incendiary device during security screening procedures, and the use of currently available extinguishers carried on aircrafts would create a violent reaction. The TSA warning is based on FBI testing done in 2011, and a subsequent report.
(Excerpt) Read more at firstlook.org ...
Sadly, you are probably right. No problem using creative people to brainstorm your weaknesses...but thermite is not exactly a ‘new’ threat. Its use is older than aviation.
Thermite welding... still used today. The rust is magnetite not hematite.
What if it was shoved into the stewardesses cart’s ice bucket? Bang!!!
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Thermite
•Lighting thermite on an ice block is highly discouraged as it may cause a dangerous explosion.
Perhaps you are thinking of magnesium?
Thermite is exothrmic welding agent....we use it all the time in the trades...under the trade name CADWELD
It would never burn long enough to burn through a ship hull...the reaction only takes a few seconds.
I doubt the report is true.
It was my impression that it took something serious to get thermite to start - something like burning magnesium.
A reaction between Aluminum and Iron Oxide will produce toxic nerve gasses? React with relatively inert agents used in fire extinguishers?
The stuff burns so hot and fast there wouldn’t be time to put it out, and the molten Iron it produces will melt most anything in an airplane. Any toxic fumes will be burning foam and plastic nearby.
Yeah, they need to be trained to spot a powdered mixture of Aluminum and (black) rust. But there has to be an initiator to get it up to kindling temperature.
Pretty basic chemistry, really.
Tell that to dozens of grandmas in wheelchairs and babies in diapers. ;-)
Light off a ribbon of magnesium on top the powdered aluminum/rust mixture, and the thermite will be a go. After that, it could eat through the hood of a car, then the engine block, etc.
It would certainly ignite the cabin interior, and do god knows what damage as it burned downward.
And the arrests of the three "terrorists" in NYC?
Did you hear Police Commissioner Bratton's speech praising the police work that caught these perpetrators? It was complete with all the democrat "talking points," including that this is not the time for some to politicize the continued funding of the oh so valuable DHS.
As you said: "What a fascinating coincidence."
Let me guess, to occur the same day Netenyahu is to speak.
There are many more types of thermite than just aluminum and magnetite. Cadweld is aluminum and copper oxide.
One can even mix aluminum, calcium sulfate and water and cast it into a solid block of thermite.
Thermite was used to destroy the contents safes containing classified material while I was in the Navy. There was a container in the top drawer anda if ignited would burn through the entire safe in just a minute or so. I’ve seen it demonstrated. No question inmy mind that it would devastating in an aircraft.
K
We are safer damnit!!! The French looking guy said so!!
The only perfect security would be the mass expulsion of Muslims. Americans do not have the spiritual strength for such a necessary act. Therefore, Americans are willing to accept their own deaths rather than hurt Muslim feelings. Americans have a death wish.
Thanks, I guess I’m just old-school. Weld railroad tracks. But I was aware of the Cadweld to bond electrical grounds, I think it is.
A big squirt bottle of Mercury would do a number on a plane if it was dumped on an Aluminum structural element. Takes a while, but it will wreak havoc.
If this is such a concern, how long have they known it and what is the TSA doing to find it! It cannot go through security without being detected.
Well, the technology was just invented ....
http://makezine.com/projects/make-39/hans-goldschmidt-and-the-invention-of-thermite/
.... in 1893.
The key word in your sentence:
MAGNESIUM
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