What if the Shoe Bomber Had Succeeded...........
The chilling photo sequence above demonstrates the horrific power of the small quantity of high explosive hidden in Richard Reid's shoe. Had alert passengers not spotted his attempt to ignite the bomb the entire aircraft would had been destroyed with the loss of 197 lives. The still photos above were taken from an FBI video of test conducted at Quantico VA to duplicate the scenario with Reid and his shoe bomb. The full account of the experiments and video can be seen at News of the World (UK) site. An excerpt from the News of the World story follows:

This is what Reid's bomb would have done to a plane full of passengers flying at 30,000ft, if the detonator had not been faulty.

We showed the video to top anti-terror cop Assistant Commissioner Andy Hayman who said: "It's only when you see the bomb going off inside a pressurised air cabin that you really see the catastrophic results. The plane is split in two.

"The video shows the shot from inside, it's taken to show you what it would look like if you were a passenger on that flight.

"You can see the plane shake and then it goes dark. I have seen this footage again and again and each time I still find it chilling."

Mr Hayman added: "What this video shows is the ingenuity and the ruthlessness that these people possess, the same ingenuity and ruthlessness you saw in the Crevice trial.

"And they're constantly refining their techniques, developing new methods of mass murder. Sometimes they sound outlandish — just like a bomb in a shoe sounds far-fetched.

"But look at the result in this video. This is what we're fighting against."

The footage is now to be used by Scotland Yard to train its officers. Reid, 33, who was born in Kent, pleaded guilty to attempting to blow up Flight 63.

The court was told he was overpowered by passengers and crew as he attempted to light a fuse protruding from one of his shoes. He is serving a life sentence in the U.S.

Mr Hayman agrees with the News of the World that the public should see the shocking simulation of what he could have done as he says another attack is "highly likely".

Tags: Richard Reid Shoe Bomber FBI War On Terror Scotland Yard