like they expected, and there was an investigation why.
Oops.
The bomb technicians — without using a scale, as is allowed by Los Angeles police procedures to avoid additional handling of the unstable devices — estimated the weight of the homemade explosives and a counter-charge to be about 16.5 pounds (7.5 kilograms).
They arrived at 16.5 pounds by estimating that the smaller explosives — there were 280 of them — each weighed about a half an ounce (14 grams) in a standard flash powder measurement. The bomb technicians estimated that the 44 larger explosives — which were about the size of a soda can with a fuse — had about 1.5 ounces (42.5 grams) worth of flash powder.
Federal authorities who weighed the remains after the blast calculated that the weight was actually more than 42 pounds (19 kilograms). The smaller explosives were actually 1.37 ounces (38.9 grams) and the larger ones were about 5 ounces (142 grams).
The detonation chamber's maximum capacity is 15 pounds (6.8 kilograms) for multiple uses or 25 pounds (11 kilograms) for a single use, Moore said. The LAPD has not publicly identified the manufacturer of the detonation chamber, despite repeated requests.
On that last, I'd imagine the company wants nothing to do with a bunch of journalists asking "What can you tell us about how the bomb squad screwed up? Or is your design defective?" And LAPD doesn't want to piss off the company that built a trailer that's been used multiple times with no problems.
Bet they'll be a lot more careful about weights from now on.
4 comments:
"Bet they'll be a lot more careful about weights from now on."
I'll take that bet. They'll be careful for the next 2 or 3 years. Maybe.
"We've been doing this FOREVER, and it slows us down!"
Probably.
When you let anyone graduate school regardless of competency, outcomes like this....due to the inability to do simple math....are guaranteed. Just !Ike that pedestrian bridge in Miami that fell apart a few years ago....
Never mind the fact that the stuff was "so dangerous" that they "had" to blow it in place, so they were packing it in the truck without ANY PPE while using cell phones right next to the "dangerous home-made explosives" that they were loading. Nevermind the fact that there were thousands of the same shells being moved by rental truck from the same pile that the "dangerous home-made" (in China) explosives were taken from. LAPD completely screwed the pooch on this one. A lot of before pictures are out there, and they tell the story.
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