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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Carragher who wrote (14541)	12/23/2001 3:06:13 PM
From: unclewest	Respond to of 281500

The passenger, whose passport identified him as Richard Reid, 28, was subdued by other passengers and crew members after he tried to light a cigarette and was confronted by a flight attendant. During the confrontation, Reid allegedly took off one of his shoes and tried to ignite a cord extending from it with matches, said Thomas Kinton, interim executive director of the Massachusetts Port Authority. John, ok. that makes more sense...but it is a dumb method...makes me think he had poor training. he was apparently trying to ignite time fuse which is a little smaller in diameter than a pencil and burns at a rate of 6 seconds per inch. (i do not know of a 10 second per foot fuse)...i do know there are faster fuzes down to about 2 1/2 seconds per inch. one end of the time fuse is inserted in a non-electric blasting cap...the cap is inserted in the explosive. the time fuse burns to the cap, setting off a little chain reaction that results in a small detonation...the shock wave then sets off the C4. i still don't know why he had detcord unless someone confused time fuse for detcord. they do have a similar appearance to the untrained eye. i would expect someone who had access to time fuse, blasting caps and C4 would also have a proper fuse igniter...time fuse is nearly impossible to start with a cigarette...difficult at best to ignite with a match. it would require him to cut about 1" down the end, insert one or better two matches, squeeze the matches and fuse back together and drag it all over a match striker. very time consuming and often takes 2 or more attempts. a time fuse igniter slips over the fuse...you remove a small safety pin(can be done before hand)...then pull a ring and it immediately ignites the fuse...even underwater. once lit, the fuse is impossible to put out...it burns underwater. if you should be confronted with this...the only solutions are to pull the fuse and blasting cap from the charge and toss the cap and fuse well away from you or cut the fuse well below where it appears to be burning. if you choose the first method and cannot get away from it(as on an aircraft or other enclosed, tight space)...quickly attempt to slip the cap off..if you succeed all will be safe....but expect the cap to be well crimped on to the fuse...in this case, immediately place something substantial on the cap as it will cause an explosion much like a large firecracker...except the cap is encased in metal and will cause shrapnel...coats, purses, seat cushions, brief cases, etc., should suffice. using heat alone to set a blasting cap and charge, as someone suggested, would be nearly impossible. a cap is about 2" long...one end is open for 1/2 the length. the other or business end is enclosed. the business end must be inserted deep into the charge to insure a detonation. setting the cap off requires getting a spark 1" into the cap. the problem with doing that with a match or cigarette is C4 is very very flammable. merely touching it with a cigarette will cause it to burst into flame...it would be extremely difficult and unreliable to depend on getting a spark into the cap without first setting the C4 on fire. of course eventually it would probably burn down enough to sufficiently heat up the business end of the cap...but that would be slow and difficult to time. unclewest