Science of a flightmare

Posted: Thursday, August 10, 2006 11:45 PM by Alan Boyle

Over the past 24 hours, the new threat of liquid explosives wielded by terrorists has transformed the way we think of air travel. Strangely enough, I was caught up in today's "flightmare" while making my way from Seattle to Houston for Friday's briefings on the next shuttle mission (which you can watch on NASA TV online).

But rather than regale you with tales of my 16-hour odyssey - which surely can be topped many times over by other travelers - I'll just point you in the direction of other resources that shed additional light on this new front in the terror techno-war:

Our own Web site has plenty to offer, ranging from the nuts and bolts of the liquid-explosive threat to the potential countermeasures that still haven't really been tried, and even a tech-oriented message board on the new travel restrictions.
The "How Stuff Works" Web site presents a tutorial on how liquid explosives work.
Scientific American's blog speculates on exactly which type of liquid explosive is at issue (TATP, anyone?), and provides links to further speculation.
Popular Science presents a special report on technology vs. terrorism.
The Akron Beacon Journal contributes a prescient little piece on how polymer sniffers could counter potential terror threats. Here's an archived article from New Scientist about polymer sensors.
The Counterterrorism Blog provides an exhaustive roundup of what's being said about the liquid-explosives plot - including the frequent allusions to the similar "Bojinka" liquid-explosives plot that was hatched by World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef, but never put into effect. The blog also refers to the lesser-known Philippine plot involving toothpaste tubes and shampoo bottles back in 2004 - a sign that counterterrorism agencies should have known this was coming.

MSNBC is providing plenty of avenues for feedback on this developing story - but if you want to send along links to other online resources on terror tech (and even better, counterterror tech), feel free to leave them in your comments.

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Comments

I have a lot of hopes for those super sensitive sniffers!! The one was said to be able to detect a picogram and was a quantity explained like this:

If all the people on the earth were a mass that equaled one gram, a picogram would be the equivalent amount of just one person's fingernail! How's that for sensitive? They said that even if you handled explosives several weeks ago and washed your hands many times since then, it would still detect it!!

Since terrorism can come in much bigger forms that the likes of yesterday's plot or even 9/11, I'd like to mention my Web site which has my article on Preparing for a Super-Disaster at the bottom.

www.trafford.com/04-2708

Chris Eldridge (Sent Friday, August 11, 2006 6:35 AM)

Since liquids and polymers in general can be used to soak clothing, that can then be stored in a zip-lock bag, it is the same as having a bottle, gel-pak, or toothpaste tube of that product for the would-be terrorist to be. Also, as I remember from my less-than 'halcyon' college days, vodka injected into an orange, assured us of a good buzz anywhere on campus, since it was a dry school (no alcohol), dry county, in Kentucky. Liquid polymers and other potential explosives can be injected into fruit and other foods. However, foods and 'wet clothing' are still allowed onto planes. Watch out for the funny looking guys in the hawaiian shirts carrying their WMDs onto the plane or to your local picnic, they're actually Watermelons of Mass destruction. The only alternative is to issue us all Tyvek environmental jumpsuits, ship all our clothes to the final destination, and have us all look like Umppa-Lumpas or actors from Woody Allen's movie 'Sleeper,' as we march onto the planes. Has it become too absurd yet? Don't worry, it will.

Steve fowler, Morrisville, PA (Sent Friday, August 11, 2006 9:53 AM)

As long as we're willing to "pay any price" to save lives, how about 10%-15% of the cost of a ticket? That's about what it would take to cover the increased operating costs of flying airliners designed and built to withstand small explosives during flight. Sturdier framing and floors along with skin sections designed to blow out in non-catastrophic ways to relieve overpressures would help to insure that while a small amount of explosives smuggled onto an airplane would probably kill a few passengers, it would not bring the aircraft down. No "dramatic effect", so to speak, so why bother trying?

Dan, Vancouver WA (Sent Friday, August 11, 2006 2:23 PM)

It would be nice if airlines would have a supply of preinspected bottled water.They already have soft drinks and coffee so there would be no need to carry on your own.Maybe even baby formula that could be prearranged.

Susan Franklin,Phoenix,AZ (Sent Friday, August 11, 2006 2:38 PM)

One answer would be very inconvient for a lot of people but better than dieing would be to ban all carry ons except baby needs.

Susan Franklin,Phoenix,AZ (Sent Friday, August 11, 2006 2:45 PM)

I read today about a new scanning technical that could revolutionize paleontology. The lead researcher Phil Donoghur a paleontologist at Bristol University in England. This technique let's Paleontologists look at fossils 500 million years old with out using acid to dissolue the rock. My qustion is this couldn't this same technique be used on the mars meteorite ALH84001 found in antarctica.

J.C. Matlock, Marble Falls tx. (Sent Friday, August 11, 2006 3:15 PM)

Why not separate flight for people and separate flights for luggages? It can be optimized and no carry-ons allowed except for medical purposes. Airlines provide appropriate baby food if necessary by checking ahead of time. We can then use smaller planes to carry just people. The luggage plane can be minimally staffed or remote-piloted with no one to kill. Separate system can be done but they reach the same destination just like how the internet works. If all airlines cooperate, this can be done economically.

Joe Real, Rancho Cordova, California (Sent Friday, August 11, 2006 3:17 PM)

Since I was a kid I've been interested in rockets, and now my attention has been drawn by all this news regarding liquid explosives. Are the substances causing all this commotion hypergolic? If so, has anybody looked at them as potential propellants? Just a thought...

Patrick Bishop, Caldwell, NJ (Sent Friday, August 11, 2006 5:01 PM)

Somethings to think about: Hearing aids require batteries to work which could be used as a part of a bomb. Are we going to make people deaf by removing their hearing aids?? I myself have a cochlear implant and can only guess of the trouble I will get with a wire, transmitor, and receiver on the side of my head if I ever need to board a plane. What about other people with disablities? i.e wheelchairs with very big batteries??

Allen Evans, Weatherford,TX (Sent Friday, August 11, 2006 6:20 PM)

EVEN IF NO BOMBS EVER GO OFF ON ANOTHER AIRCRAFT EVER AGAIN, THE BAD GUY HAS WON. THE SIMPLE THINGS THAT WE ALL TAKE FOR GRANTED HAVE BEEN SLOWLY REMOVED FROM OUR LIVES. FEAR HAS US GOING THROUGH METAL DETECTORS, PUTTING OUR THINGS ON THE X-RAY, TAKING OUR SHOES OFF, NO LIGHTERS, NO WATER, NO FOOD, AND NO NOTHING. WE FEAR. NO MATER WHAT HAPPENS NOW THEY HAVE WON. A FEW DETERMINED PEOPLE OVER MANY YEARS HAVE DONE THIS.
MY THANKS TO ALL THE MANY MEN AND WOMEN THAT WORKS HARD TO KEEP THE BAD GUYS AT BAY. I DON'T FEAR TO TRAVEL, BUT IT DOES SEEM TO BE LESS CONVENIENT TO FLY.

MICHAEL OVERBOE VILLA PARK IL (Sent Friday, August 11, 2006 9:40 PM)

The TSA's domestic response to this threat has been so over-the-top beyond ridiculous, it defies comprehension. I got caught up in this mess at the crack of dawn yesterday trying to get home from a brief trip with no checked bag. Passengers at that hour had no warning and knew nothing about the situation until AFTER we got on the other side of the metal detectors and TSA started taking our deodorants, toothpaste, etc. Between my purse and my rollerbag, they confiscated and trashed upwards of $100 worth of harmless toiletries, cosmetics and perfume from me. By the time I boarded my connecting flight a few hours later, unlabeled prescription medications were being confiscated. I had to hide a tube of topical prescription creme in my bra and hope they didn't frisk me at the gate. TSA initially even was taking toiletries from flight crews. The level of overkill has been absurd, unnecessary and extremely costly, to consumers, airport retailers and the airlines. The government needs to stop being reactive instead of proactive and institute safety policies that make sense and will be truly preventative.

Nicole Glovier, Ashburn, VA (Sent Friday, August 11, 2006 10:38 PM)

Any credible aircraft designer should have anticipated the possibility that an airliner could be not only hijacked but used as a missile. This was written into science fiction novels and several hijackers actually tried to fly into a hotel long before 9/11.

One could say the exact same things for any fool who designed and built a skyscraper. Heck, my grandfather had a piece of the B-25 bomber that accidentally flew into the Empire State Building 60 years ago. No way was ever developed to get people out of such a high building in case of a fire nor was their any way for fire fighters to reach the upper floors... And here we thought the Neanderthals had really hard heads…

We never ever address the real issues of our day. Whether it is the fact that we build so many mega cities right on fault lines and in the shadow of volcanoes or the fact that we failed to develop any method to check for or prevent these liquid explosives (known about for over a decade), we literally are an accident waiting to happen. We’ll likely die off from our own stupidity long before any terrorist has had a chance to blow us up.

I would like to see airliners with ultraviolet missile detection systems and standard chaff dispensers like we see on every military aircraft to foil shoulder fired missile attacks.

chris Eldridge (Sent Friday, August 11, 2006 10:57 PM)

I have no problem with stashing my toothpaste and shampoo in the suitcase under the plane, because after all, I'm not going to shampoo my hair on the plane. MY beef is with security personnel in airports who target middle aged grandmas on their way to Portland for wanding and patdowns complete with a feel under the bra, when certain types of people who look very different from me sail right on through without a second glance.

Lenora Whorton (Sent Saturday, August 12, 2006 12:12 AM)

As for the 'terrorists' having won, you're (sadly) mistaken. Their idea of 'victory' is simple, bloodthirsty revenge for all the dead Muslims in Lebanon and Iraq - maybe 100,000 dead. They're not making 'political statements' anymore. Instead they want you - any of you - dead for all the real and supposed harm against their coreligionists.

Doesn't matter to such people that most Muslim dead in Iraq are due to faction fighting and sectarian vendettas. Your government and the British did brought this horror upon their 'brothers' and now they want you dead in return.

Wake up people. The enemy wants you buried or bowing your heads - nothing less will do.

Adam (Sent Sunday, August 13, 2006 10:48 PM)

There are plenty of ways to cause an explosion or fire on an airplane with just parts found in an aircraft lavatory. Is the TSA going to prevent us from going to the bathroom next?

Alan Sheets, Loveland, CO (Sent Thursday, August 17, 2006 12:41 PM)

Once again I say the bad guys are winning. It goes far beyond blowing up aircraft. Our own government feels that it is OK to tap our call without a warrant and now we fear to build very tall buildings because of an unknown threat. How many more freedoms will we give up before we feel 'safe'.

Michael (Sent Thursday, August 17, 2006 4:17 PM)

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