sir_eccles

Reports of a Malaysia Airlines 777 shot down over Ukraine. Fingers being pointed at the separatists right now. Who knows what really happened. Stupid accident, intentional escalation, smear campaign, black ops coverup to hide the first airliner being landed at Diego Garcia (sarcasm)? The next moves by Putin et al may be crucial. I suspect the US really really doesn't want to get involved.

civilservant

They won't have any choice - their will almost certainly be at least one American on board, hell Malaysian uses alot of ex legacy carrier American pilots.

sir_eccles

Flying from Europe it may have a huge mix of nationalities on board.

Pulaski

Given that it is impossible to shoot down a jet at 35,000 feet from the ground without some very serious hardware, it is IMO unlikely that "the rebels" in Ukraine shot a 777 out of the sky.

Assuming that this isn't another suicidal Malaysian Airlines pilot, or a remarkable coincidence of location for a random mechanical failure or due to pilot incompetence (modern planes very rarely just "fall out of the sky", MH370 and AF447, excepted ), so fingers are almost certain to be pointed at the Russian air force

civilservant

Didn't just fall out of the sky - the pilots mishandled one of the most basic emergency procedures, stall recovery.

Pulaski

Agreed (I have amended my post ), but whatever the reason, planes rarely crash from level flight cruise altitude.

civilservant

Reuters quoted an Interior ministry somewhere (didn't catch the country) as there being 23 USCs on board.

scrubbedexpat099

They do when they have a missile up their backsides, a couple downed in that area this week so nothing new.

Plenty of ex Russian stuff that no doubt could do the job lying around in that area.

Not exactly a hard target to hit and the 777 was not designed to take battle damage.

civilservant

Why is it that the world continues to resemble a Tom Clancy novel?

scrubbedexpat099

I think it is surprising how few events of this nature there are.

Michael

The rebels have surface to air missiles apparently from Russia. Some speculate that they may have been firing at a Ukraine airplane and missed and the missile picked up the infrared heat of the Malaysian airline.

scrubbedexpat099

More likely radar guided, infra red at that altitude?

Michael

Engines on a commercial jet plane put out a lot of heat. Radar guided has to be extremely sophisticated to take down a plane at 35,000 feet but heat seeking don't.

civilservant

IR missiles don't have the range to cover 33,000ft to a target, especially when you consider that the largest and brightest thing in the sky is invariably the sun.

Only way it was IR was if it was launched from an aircraft IMO.

materialcontroller

All fingers being pointed at Russia and/or Russian seperatist fighters then. What about the Ukrainians themselves?