Air passenger charged after bullet primer caps ignite

[RamboLiberal]

Source: CNN

A 37-year-old airline passenger was arrested Tuesday in Miami after primer caps for bullets ignited while a baggage handler was unloading a roll-on bag, the FBI said.

The tarmac incident is not believed to be terrorism-related, FBI special agent Michael Leverock said.

Leverock would not provide details or speculate on how the bag might have gotten on the plane. He compared the primer to a "spark plug" for the bullet.

The unidentified passenger, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was bound for Jamaica, was charged with transportation of hazardous materials. If convicted, he could face a sentence of up to five years.

The flight from Boston landed at Miami International Airport around 11:30 a.m., American Airlines said. The 737 had two pilots, four flight attendants and 148 passengers.



Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/12/28/florida.flight.baggage/index.html?hpt=T2

---

The Miami-Dade bomb squad was called to the airport around 11:30 a.m. after a baggage handler said he was taking luggage to an American Airlines plane that had just arrived from Boston and a bag exploded, sending pieces of metal flying.

Officials believe when the baggage handler sat the bag down on the ground, it caused one of the bullet primers to rupture and explode, which ignited a chain reaction among the other tiny pieces of metal.

The worker was not seriously injured, but the words "explosion" and "airplane" can't be used in the same sentence without the terror alert going up a few notches. Officials took one of the baggage handler's shoes, which had a piece of metal lodged in it, and called in the bomb dogs.

http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local-beat/Hairspray-Styles-Bomb-Scare-Miami-Aiport.html

Good thing those didn't ignite in the air or we could've had another Valujet type fire in the air & crash.

[Ruby the Liberal]

1. "sat the bag down on the ground"

When I was still travelling for work (100+ flights a year), I would go through luggage annually. *I* am not hard on luggage (and know enough to pay for the heavy-duty sets).

"sat the bag down"? Yeah right. I have had to put in WAY to many damaged (beyond) repair claims than I care to admit. At least 5 come to mind.

[dencol]

3. The public gets what it pays for, too.

In general, we all demand rock-bottom air-fares. That results in underpaid manual laborers who don't care about your bags. As you suggested with your purchase of heavy-duty luggage, we get what we pay for. It's just reality, even though we would all like for everybody to have great work ethics under any circumstances.

[Ruby the Liberal]

6. Have you checked into checked baggage fees lately?

Back when I was flying, those were unheard of.

Of course, this was pre 9/11 when airlines were still profitable and actually fed you and gave you leg room.

If I was flying that frequently today, I would gladly go back to damaged luggage in return for breathing room and something to eat on 4+ hour flights.

[unblock]

14. the relationship between airfares and baggage handler quality is not as strong as you might think

once the "market" has established the "cost" of the average baggage handler, with the current average performance in terms of damaged bags per bags handled, it kinda is what it is.

if airlines were able to get more from passengers for airfare, there are plenty of other places they would put the extra money before paying baggage handlers more. and even then, they wouldn't pay baggage handlers more out of the kindness of their hearts. the baggage handlers would have to see all that extra money floating around and demand their cut.

even if they then get a raise, the whole dynamic of having to fight for it doesn't promote a cheerier attitude or extra care at work, so it's not clear that the raise would translate to any improvement in terms of reducing incidents of damaged bags.


most likely, the only way passenger prices would affect baggage handlers wages would be if airlines recognized this "market opportunity" specifically and offered a "white glove" surcharge. airfare stays where it is, but for an extra fee per bag, a better dressed and more courteous and presumably more careful and delicate "white glove" crew handles it instead of the usual crew.

and if they did that, after a good start and a few good published statistics on how much better the "white glove" crew is at handling bags, the airlines would quietly stop maintaining the quality distinction and the only difference would be the dress and courteousness and perhaps more apologies when your bag gets damaged anyway. but the price surcharge would remain, of course, and many would insist on paying it because to do otherwise is just "asking" for your bag to get damaged.

[Plucketeer]

4. I guess I'm just lucky

Thru years of flying, I've never had a bag damaged or cardboard box torn.

[Ruby the Liberal]

5. I had one bag that was only 2 weeks old come through customs

wrapped in duct tape due to the damage.

I walked into the baggage claim office and they asked me if I was sure it was damaged in transit and not before. Thats when I lifted it up onto the counter. No more questions asked - they just started filling out the forms.

:rofl:

[SoapBox]

2. This just goes to show....

...that people are STOOPID!

And St. Palin wants parents be making all the food decisions
for their kids?

Again...STOOOOPID!

[oneshooter]

7. So parents should not decide what the kid eats? Then who should? n/t

[krispos42]

8. It takes a pretty sharp hit to ignite a primer

Lemme put it this way... when a gun with a full magazine of ammunition fires, none of the other rounds go off. Ever. And that's WITH a potent explosion going on an inch away and trasmitted through steel.

Hell, the Miami PD drop-tested Glocks from 30 feet onto a steel plate with nary a misfire!

[mbperrin]

9. This is evidence that the bag was packed in such a way as to cause

an explosion. This was no accident - it just didn't go off in the air.

Who needs to travel with primers, ffs?

[krispos42]

11. Dunno. Primers aren't exactly hard to find

Nor is there a wide variety to choose from.

Yeah, for the precision shooter, the bullet is critical (brand, weight, coating, design) and the gunpowder is critical (burn rate, evenness of combustion, fouling)... but the primers?

I think there are like 6 sizes of primers and your choice is Winchester, Remington, or Federal.

It's like buying an alkaline battery!

[formercia]

15. The force has to be right on the anvil inside the primer

They are very difficult to initiate without a firing pin impacting the area of the anvil. There have been cases where primers that were removed from their shipping container and stored loosely in a container have detonated en-mass. I have disposed of old primers by pouring them into a hole in the ground and covering them with powder, then igniting the powder. In quantity, they can cause a considerable explosion and the metal cups and anvils will penetrate cardboard or similar material in close proximity.

I think the suspect removed them from their original container to reduce bulk and or conceal their identity. The impact caused one of the primers to detonate, causing a chain reaction explosion.

[boppers]

10. Conversely, they are also set off by a very small amount of force in the right place.

That being said, who takes them onto planes, anyways?

[Loudmxr]

12. People who want to kill something cheaply at the end of the trip?

[boppers]

13. But it was primers.... not ammunition.

Was it a "build your own rounds" Safari?

[PavePusher]

16. "a naturalized U.S. citizen who was bound for Jamaica"

Sounds like an attempt to smuggle reloading supplies to Jamaica, possibly. They have some pretty strict weapons laws there, don't know how/if they control ammo and components of it.