CO2 cartridges and flying

[Tom Henderson]

"Drifter" <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> Pack that same (now empty) CO2 cartridge
> with match heads (a propellant) and light it, and you have a real
> projectile.

Pack it with other stuff and you have a nasty little bomb.

> Why are they banned? Because the rocket scientist who
> prepared that portion of the law probably didn't know the difference
> beyween CO2 and O gases.

No, because they aren't confident they can tell the difference between a
CO2 cart converted into an explosive and a regular CO2 cart with the
detection devices currently available to them. Therefore, they only safe
policy is to ban them.

> Those leaky oxygen containers on the Air
> Trans were USED containers which had been certified as empty, and thus
> presented a real hazard because the seals were broken - oxygen is fire
> fuel.

No, they were unexpended, but expired oxygen generators from another jet.
When set off, normally by detection of cabin pressure loss, they start a
chemical reaction that produces ocygen and heat.

> But, the law is the law, or the law is whatever the President
> says it is in our new society.
>

Scary stuff, isn't it?

 

[John Hardt]

"Tom Henderson" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "John Hardt" <[email protected]> wrote in newsmqAf.31863$PY6.26907
> @tornado.ohiordc.rr.com:
>
>> The connection? Simple; the connection is that in 1996, someone
>> rationalized that they THOUGHT a particular item posed no risk.
>
> Oxygen generators were known to produce dangerous amount of heat when set
> off and if I remember correctly, were not supposed to have been
> transported in the manner that they were on that flight. They weren't O2
> cannisters, they were chemical packages that generate oxygen (and heat as
> a byproduct) when set off. So they ended up with way too much heat and
> oxygen together in the hold. You are right in the sense that someone
> thought it would be safe regardless of posted policies and procedures,
> but the oxygen generators were a known fire threat, which certainly is
> not true of CO2 cartridges. The reason CO2 cartridges are banned is that
> you could make a nasty little explosive with one and it wouldn't look any
> different than a regular CO2 cartridge with the detection devices
> currently in use at our airports.
>
> You shouldn't avoid taking CO2 cartidges on a flight because they might
> explode, you should avoid it because you might end up in the basement of
> the airport with some big dude from the TSA doing a cavity search on you
> for weapons and explosives.

Agreed... or you might kill someone.

I never said that CO2 cartridges and O2 generatros posed the same risk.
Only that when people who have no expertise in the area THINK they
understand the situation and take matters into their own hands, bad things
happen.

John

 

[Tom Henderson]

"John Hardt" <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> I never said that CO2 cartridges and O2 generatros posed the same
> risk. Only that when people who have no expertise in the area THINK
> they understand the situation and take matters into their own hands,
> bad things happen.
>

Gotcha. Personally, my biggest problem with flying the bike is the fear of
watching the handlers destroy it through the window while I'm sitting in
the plane.