Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

False sense of security

2004; Aviation Week Network; Volume: 161; Issue: 9 Linguagem: Inglês

0005-2175

F Fiorini, Alexey Komarov,

Advanced Measurement and Detection Methods

Following the mid-air destruction of two Russian airliners in the evening of August 24, after taking off from Moscow's Domodedovo airport, investigators concluded that the crashes were the result of terrorist acts. This happened in spite of an investment of 5.5 million dollars in security equipment with automatic screening of all luggage, satisfying security requirements of international airlines. Although traces of the hexogen plastic RDX explosive were found in the wreckage of both aircraft, this substance is only able to be detected in checked-baggage screening systems but not at checkpoint screenings. This is acknowledged as a problem and the use of quadruple-resonance (QR) technology equipment able to detect small amounts of RDX is now being considered to address the problem. It is concluded that now the whole protocol of dealing with hijackings is more efficient, the possibility of suicide bombing is now higher.