By Pete Williams, NBC News Justice Correspondent
New details of the 2006 plot to bomb transatlantic flights headed to the U.S. from London are emerging in a London courtroom, as the men accused of planning the attacks go on trial. The new information reveals that the plotters had given considerable thought to how to make their attacks as devastating as possible.
Prosecutors said in court today that seven planes bound for the U.S. and Canada were to be targeted -- on United and American Airlines and Air Canada -- to Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Toronto, and Montreal, at the height of the summer vacation season. Flight schedules were found on a computer memory stick when the plotters' homes were searched, which also contained details about aircraft types, passenger capacity, and flight paths.
The targeted flights were scheduled to leave within a three-hour period from Heathrow and would all have been in the air at the same time. The idea, prosecutors said, was to detonate the bombs over the ocean, making it impossible to save any of the other flights once the first explosion went off and was detected.
The precise date for the plot had not been chosen.
The bombs were to be assembled on the airplanes and detonated while the flights were airborne. The liquid components of the bombs were to be brought on board in bottles, by mixing one of the the liquid components, concentrated hydrogen peroxide, with powdered Tang and food dye to make it look like popular sports or soft drinks available in the United Kingdom -- Lucozade and Oasis -- or like mouthwash.
The seven flights identified were: United flights 931 to San Francisco, 959 to Chicago, and 925 to Washington; American flights 139 to New York and 91 to Chicago; and Air Canada flights 849 to Toronto and 865 to Montreal. All were scheduled to leave between 2:15 and 4:50 pm, London time.
