* * * How Safe is Checked Baggage? * * *

Well. It is perfectly safe for the guy who checks it. He does * * * N O T * * * need to be on any domestic flight himself and NOT get blown up as mentioned in the lead post of this thread.

You do not need a suicide bomber to do this. You need a $30 suitcase, some easily purchased explosive, a Tandy timer, and a valid airline ticket. Total cost? Say $500 all up to take out a 757, and 1000s on ground. And all SO easily avoidable. The perpetrator/s suffers no injury, and can do it again ad infinitum until the whole aviation system gets closed down.

He could buy a ticket today from anywhere USA to anywhere else USA and walk up to check-in, get a boarding pass and check in the suitcase.

Then drive home, and not board. Airline has NO clue and NO interest in this at present. The yo yos in Washington want to take his nail clippers, and Gillette razor, and make him use a dorky plastic knife, and cut him down to one carry-on, but they can't stop ANY person doing the above as they are too lazy or thick to insist on positive bag matching. This works, is simple, and now happens on most if not all INTERNATIONAL flights.

What happens to that large suitcase? It goes onto the plane. With no visual inspection and a possible cursory X Ray check. So, the timing device, and/or altimeter device the nutter hooked up to the 50 pounds of TNT or plastic explosive in the case blows the plane out of the sky when it hits 30,000 feet. Maybe he could time it to blow at 1,000 feet so the exploding plane takes out a few 1,000 innocent folks living in the flight overpath where the plane crashes on take of. I can think out many take off paths that would cause major fatalities if a full fuel load 757 blew up over them at 1000 feet.

Chilling thought, and right NOW is 100% possible. And so easily preventable.

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[This message has been edited by SkyMiler (edited 10-09-2001).]