“How long—”
“I'll take questions one at a time.”
Jackson pointed to a woman with Buddy Holly frames.
“How long would it have taken to raise the temperature in the duffel to the point of fire?”
“Let me clarify one thing. We're talking about incandescence, a glowing type of combustion generated when the little oxygen available comes in direct contact with a solid, like coals or embers. This is not flaming combustion. In a small volume like the bag's interior, incandescence could be quickly established and maintained at around five hundred to six hundred degrees Fahrenheit.”
His finger found another journalist.
“How could the rum bottle survive the fire in the bag?”
“Easy. On the other end of the temperature spectrum, incandescence can reach eleven hundred to twelve hundred degrees Fahrenheit, the temperature of a lit pipe or cigarette. That's hardly enough to alter a glass bottle containing liquid.”
“And the smoke deposits would remain on the bottle?”
“Yes. Unless it was subjected to a very intense and sustained fire, which was not the case, as it occurred inside the suitcase.”
The finger moved.
“The metal fatigue marks survived as well?”
“To melt steel you need temperatures of twenty-five hundred degrees Fahrenheit or more. Beach marks, your typical evidence of fatigue, generally survive fires of the intensity I'm describing.”
He pointed to a reporter from the
“Did the passengers know what was happening?”
“Those seated close to the flash point would have felt the shock. Everyone would have heard the explosion.”
“What about smoke?”
“Smoke would have seeped into the passenger cabin via the heating and air-conditioning system.”
“Were the passengers conscious the whole time?”
“The type of combustion I've described can give off noxious gases which may affect people very quickly.”
“How quickly?”
“The old, the young, perhaps as fast as ninety seconds.”
“Could these gases have gotten into the passenger compartment?”
“Yes.”
“Have traces of smoke or noxious gases been found in the victims?”
“Yes. Dr. Tyrell is going to make a statement shortly.”
“With so much smoke, how can you be sure about the source of the deposits on the rum bottle?” The questioner looked about sixteen.
“Fragments of the Lindenbaum pipe were recovered, and reference studies were conducted using unburned strands of tobacco adhering to the inside of the bowl. The deposits on the bottle were the by-products of the combustion of that tobacco.”
“How could there have been a fuel leak?” Shouted from the back.
“When fire broke out in the hold, flame impingement affected only a segment of the fuel line. This pulled the wall of the line, or induced a stress that opened very slightly the seed failure.”
Jackson called on a reporter who looked and sounded like Dick Cavett.
“Are you telling us that the initial fire did not directly cause the explosion?”
“Yes.”
“What caused the explosion?” he persisted.
“An electrical failure. That's the second ignition sequence.”
“How sure can you be?”
“Reasonably certain. When electricity sparks an explosion, the electrical energy is not lost, it must ground. Damage due to electrical grounding has been identified on the same segment of fuel line. Such damage is normally seen on copper items and rather seldom on steel parts.”
“I can't believe that the fire in the suitcase didn't cause the explosion.” Cavett made little attempt to hide his skepticism. “Wouldn't that be more normal?”
“Your question makes sense. It's really what we thought at first, but you see, the fumes are not yet mixed enough with air at such short distance from the source of emission. The fumes must mix before ignition can occur, but when it does, the blast is deafening.”
Another hand.
“Was the analysis done by certified fire and explosion specialists?”
