Luggage containers could shield jets

0 Comments | USA TODAY, September, 2008 | by Thomas Frank

WASHINGTON -- The government is considering the first bomb-resistant luggage container that could prevent a small suitcase bomb from crashing a jet.

A new 5-foot-by-5-foot Kevlar container holds dozens of suitcases and can protect large planes from small suitcase bombs that slip past airport luggage scanners, said Howard Fleisher, deputy director of the Homeland Security Department's Transportation Security Lab.

Suitcase bombs have worried aviation officials since one blew up Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The bombs can get past security when they have explosive material that's too small to trigger an alarm from a luggage scanner.

The Kevlar idea faces tough obstacles. The Transportation Security Administration said it will not...