Downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 a story of claims and counterclaims

Coach is Right ^ | 7/18/14 | Jim Emerson

[Oldpuppymax]

Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down by a surface-to-air missile (SAM) over Grabovo, Ukraine and crashed near the Russian border killing all 298 souls on board. The national/political identity of the SAM battery that attacked the commercial airliner is unknown at the time of writing. The finger pointing, accusations and conspiracy theories are currently noise disguising the truth. Even the so-called recording of pro-Russian separatists is of questionable origin. Russian military intelligence would be unbelievably—that is, implausibly–sloppy to permit discussion of a civilian shootdown over unencrypted communications. (1)

The New York Times reports that two witnesses near Grabovo claim to have seen the SAM launch in the area of Snizhne, a separatist city which has been heavily bombed by the Ukrainians for the past several days.(3) Severe overcast at the time made it unlikely that anyone could have seen the airliner being struck.

It's possible the Airliner just happened to fly into contested airspace unaware that it was on a route similar to those followed by Ukrainian warplanes. The theory that trigger happy separatists shot down the airliner believing it was a Ukrainian military aircraft would appear to be plausible.

Escalating Tensions Moscow and Kiev have claimed the airliner was brought down by a SAM fired either by...

[grumpygresh]

The first and foremost question is as always,Cui Bono?
Why was this plane flying over an active war zone?

[deadrock]

Did the pilot know about the no fly zone warnings and divert into the danger zone on purpose? What was his religion?

[1rudeboy]

Singapore Airlines plane was flying just 15 MILES away when MH17 was shot down over Ukraine ... and 55 aircraft flew over danger zone on the SAME DAY

[deadrock]

According to this, they did not fly the same flight path as the doomed one.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2696975/Putin-blames-Ukraine-loss-Flight-MH17-298-innocent-souls-DOESNT-deny-Russian-separatists-shot-missile-McCain-warns-Hell-pay.html

Pilot diverted right into the heart of the danger zone.

[1rudeboy]

He told MailOnline that information had been leaked from a source he was unwilling to name that the pilot of MH17 'felt bad' about his course over Ukrainian airspace, so changed direction.

Good one.

[McGruff]

Defending the Malaysian Airlines decision to fly over eastern Ukraine, the country's prime minister Najib Razak said international air authorities had deemed the flight path secure.

‘The aircraft's flight route was declared safe by the International Civil Aviation Organization. And (the) International Air Transportation Association has stated that the airspace the aircraft was traversing was not subject to restrictions,’ he said.

A fatal mistake.

[BobL]

“New York Times reports that two witnesses near Grabovo claim to have seen the SAM launch in the area of Snizhne, a separatist city which has been heavily bombed by the Ukrainians for the last several days.”

Kind of like South Korea flying a plane over North Korea and then blaming L’l Kim for shooting it down.

[Logical me]

Why was this plane flying over an active war zone?

All the world is a active war zone. War zones are no longer declared. Shall we ground all air traffic since there is no safe place to fly.

[DoodleDawg]

Until the area has been secured and investigated by a politically impartial team, we will continue to be inundated with speculation and theory.

Like that's going to happen.

[DoodleDawg]

Did the pilot know about the no fly zone warnings and divert into the danger zone on purpose?

As someone asked on another thread. Who declared the no-fly zone and how was that communicated to the international aviation community?

[InterceptPoint]

QUESTION: Why was this plane flying over an active war zone?

At last, a question I can answer.

ANSWER: To save gas. And I'm serious. Remember this isn't rocket science. This is Malaysian Airlines. Saving their pennies up to pay for their missing and never been found aircraft disaster.

[El Cid]

Why was this plane flying over an active war zone?

Malaysian pilots fly to the beat of a different drummer...

[deadrock]

The doomed aircraft did not fly the same route as the other ones. See post 5. Only the aircraft in question flew directly into the the danger zone.

[jjsheridan5]

All the world is a active war zone. War zones are no longer declared. Shall we ground all air traffic since there is no safe place to fly.

Yes, hardly a day goes by that I don't see ground-to-air missiles flying upward. No matter where I travel, its always the same -- partly cloudy with a 50% chance of scattered airline debris. There is indeed no safe place to fly, which is why there have been dozens of civilian planes shot down in the last few months. Do you even read what you type? Please tell me that was really well-disguised sarcasm.

There is no getting around the fact that it is utter incompetence to send a civilian airplane above an active civil war. There are no excuses for that. What are they thinking: gee, that weather system looks bad, let's divert this flight over this area that is crawling with minimally trained militants, who are armed to the teeth. Whether other planes got away with this in the past is completely irrelevant. Stupid doesn't always result in tragedy, but, sometimes, it does.

[justa-hairyape]

The situation has actually become much more complicated. There are videos of chaff falling on the wreckage site. Can anyone explain how that can occur, if no fighter jets were involved in anyway ?

[patriot08]

A cross appears through the smoke over the devastation in this photo- eerily reminiscent of the 9/11 cross











A ruined telephone pole, actually- but eerie just the same.

[Ivan Mazepa]

Up till two weeks ago, the separatists did not have the capability to shoot high altitude planes. June 29-30 they boasted about capturing Buk and how they’re going to fix it up to shoot at the “Ukrainian junta”. Earlier this week, they were celebrating downing a Ukrainian plane at high altitude. (these Russian news stories are still up on the web)