Is it feasible to make TATP on a plane?

Was the plot in the UK to blow up planes with liquid explosive actually feasible?
According to the [link|http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/17/flying_toilet_terror_labs/|Register] the answer is absolutely not.

... Certainly, if we can imagine a group of jihadists smuggling the necessary chemicals and equipment on board, and cooking up TATP in the lavatory, then we've passed from the realm of action blockbusters to that of situation comedy.
...
We have reacted to a movie plot. Liquids are now banned in aircraft cabins (while crystalline white powders would be banned instead, if anyone in charge were serious about security). Nearly everything must now go into the hold, where adequate amounts of explosives can easily be detonated from the cabin with cell phones, which are generally not banned.

[link|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_Airlines_Flight_434|Wikipedia]:

Authorities later discovered that a passenger on the aircraft's preceding leg was Ramzi Yousef, who United States authorities have branded a master Al-Qaeda bomber and terrorist. He was later convicted of the first World Trade Center bombing. Yousef boarded the flight under an assumed name.

Yousef assembled a bomb in the lavatory and stuck it under Seat 26K on the right-hand side of the fuselage, setting the timer to explode the device four hours later. He and 25 other passengers left the plane at Cebu.

Two hours before arrival at Tokyo, the bomb exploded at 11:43 P.M. while Flight 434 was 31,000 feet above Minami Daito Island, which is located nearby Okinawa and is 260 miles (420 km) southwest of Tokyo. The explosion tore out a two square foot (0.2 m\ufffd) portion of the cabin floor and ripped the body of 24-year old Haruki Ikegami, a Japanese businessman occupying the seat, in half. He was an industrial sewing machine maker returning from a trip to Cebu. Flight attendants placed a blanket where he was seated. Ikegami did not survive. The bomb blew a hole into the floor revealing the cargo hold underneath. The fuselage of the plane stayed intact.

[...]

The seat where the bomb exploded (seat 26k) would normally be above the centre wing fuel tank on a Boeing 747 but on this particular model of 747 the tank was located slightly further back. Seat 26k was just one row in front of the tank.

[...]

US prosecutors said the device was a "Mark II" "microbomb" constructed using Casio digital watches as described in Phase I of Operation Bojinka of which this was a test. On Flight 434, Yousef used one tenth of the explosive power he planned to use on eleven U.S. airliners in January of 1995. The bomb was designed to slip through airport security checks undetected. The explosive used was liquid nitroglycerin, which was disguised as a bottle of contact lens fluid. The wires he used were hidden in the heel of his shoe. At that time, metal detectors used in airports did not go down far enough to detect anything there.

After the bombing, a man claiming to represent a rebel group said in a telephone call to the Manila office of the Associated Press, "We are Abu Sayyaf Group. We explode one plane from Cebu."

Ramzi Yousef was testing the bomb for use in the proposed Operation Bojinka terrorist attack. The bomb used on Flight 434 had one-tenth the power of the bombs he planned to use in the first phase of his project which was to bomb 11 aircraft over the Pacific Ocean.

Manila police uncovered his plan on the night of January 6 and the early morning of January 7, 1995, and Yousef was arrested a month later in Pakistan.

Since al Qaeda seems to have a mania to keep trying attacks they've dreamed up, it's reasonable to be on the lookout for liquid explosives on airplanes.

As to whether TATP is easy to make or even the explosive of choice, I don't know. I would assume that the raw materials would be as easy to get as liquid nitroglycerine if one were determined enough.

FWIW.

Cheers,
Scott.

Post #265,127 by bluke 8/17/06 6:29:25 AM Reply	Is it feasible to make TATP on a plane? Was the plot in the UK to blow up planes with liquid explosive actually feasible? According to the [link\|http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/17/flying_toilet_terror_labs/\|Register] the answer is absolutely not. ... Certainly, if we can imagine a group of jihadists smuggling the necessary chemicals and equipment on board, and cooking up TATP in the lavatory, then we've passed from the realm of action blockbusters to that of situation comedy. ... We have reacted to a movie plot. Liquids are now banned in aircraft cabins (while crystalline white powders would be banned instead, if anyone in charge were serious about security). Nearly everything must now go into the hold, where adequate amounts of explosives can easily be detonated from the cabin with cell phones, which are generally not banned.
Post #265,131 by Another Scott 8/17/06 8:35:24 AM Reply	OTOH, consider PAL434 [link\|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_Airlines_Flight_434\|Wikipedia]: Authorities later discovered that a passenger on the aircraft's preceding leg was Ramzi Yousef, who United States authorities have branded a master Al-Qaeda bomber and terrorist. He was later convicted of the first World Trade Center bombing. Yousef boarded the flight under an assumed name. Yousef assembled a bomb in the lavatory and stuck it under Seat 26K on the right-hand side of the fuselage, setting the timer to explode the device four hours later. He and 25 other passengers left the plane at Cebu. Two hours before arrival at Tokyo, the bomb exploded at 11:43 P.M. while Flight 434 was 31,000 feet above Minami Daito Island, which is located nearby Okinawa and is 260 miles (420 km) southwest of Tokyo. The explosion tore out a two square foot (0.2 m\ufffd) portion of the cabin floor and ripped the body of 24-year old Haruki Ikegami, a Japanese businessman occupying the seat, in half. He was an industrial sewing machine maker returning from a trip to Cebu. Flight attendants placed a blanket where he was seated. Ikegami did not survive. The bomb blew a hole into the floor revealing the cargo hold underneath. The fuselage of the plane stayed intact. [...] The seat where the bomb exploded (seat 26k) would normally be above the centre wing fuel tank on a Boeing 747 but on this particular model of 747 the tank was located slightly further back. Seat 26k was just one row in front of the tank. [...] US prosecutors said the device was a "Mark II" "microbomb" constructed using Casio digital watches as described in Phase I of Operation Bojinka of which this was a test. On Flight 434, Yousef used one tenth of the explosive power he planned to use on eleven U.S. airliners in January of 1995. The bomb was designed to slip through airport security checks undetected. The explosive used was liquid nitroglycerin, which was disguised as a bottle of contact lens fluid. The wires he used were hidden in the heel of his shoe. At that time, metal detectors used in airports did not go down far enough to detect anything there. After the bombing, a man claiming to represent a rebel group said in a telephone call to the Manila office of the Associated Press, "We are Abu Sayyaf Group. We explode one plane from Cebu." Ramzi Yousef was testing the bomb for use in the proposed Operation Bojinka terrorist attack. The bomb used on Flight 434 had one-tenth the power of the bombs he planned to use in the first phase of his project which was to bomb 11 aircraft over the Pacific Ocean. Manila police uncovered his plan on the night of January 6 and the early morning of January 7, 1995, and Yousef was arrested a month later in Pakistan. Since al Qaeda seems to have a mania to keep trying attacks they've dreamed up, it's reasonable to be on the lookout for liquid explosives on airplanes. As to whether TATP is easy to make or even the explosive of choice, I don't know. I would assume that the raw materials would be as easy to get as liquid nitroglycerine if one were determined enough. FWIW. Cheers, Scott.
Post #265,250 by Ashton 8/18/06 6:09:09 AM Reply	I'd love it if they settled on glyceryl trinitrate (that other name is just plain wrong, though traditional ;-) You make that stuff either in tiny quantities (mostly failing, because of the reaction rates) or very large.. with cooling coils and eagle-eyes. Medium size? Heh.. And of course, if we knew of that strategic decision (preferably before examining any wreckage) .... Listen up, Passengers: each of your bags will be thrown down this (suitably reinforced and bumpy) corridor. Somehow I don't think this one will pan out.

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