This is from Business Insider based on Reuters (I can't find this particular wire): "Since the beginning of the fighting in Ukraine, 10 aircraft (five Mi-24 Hind, two Mi-8 Hip helicopters, one An-2, one An-30 and the Il-76 at Luhansk) have been shot down by the local militia using portable surface-to-air missile systems."
IL-76 was downed shortly after take off from Luhansk.
Another source says explains that on June 6 terrorists shot down AN-30. link
But the fligh path of the Malaysian plane was few miles away from Luhansk.
Why are you using the word “terrorist”?
I could use word "criminals" in regard to these bands but I think the more adequate word is terrorists sponsored by Kremlin/GRU (as everybody knows).
This is also completely untrue. They didn’t do anything at all to lead it outside of the dangerous area, the path is a straight line right over the center of rebel controlled territory. The costs for a slight diversion around it would have been minimal — the warzone is a truly tiny portion of Ukraine.
The flight path was not secretly designed. I would encourage you to read the official pre-report by the Dutch investigators. It is written that the flight path was considered as safe according to the international aviation standards. This is what I meant when I said "they did everything what they could to provide security".
Sending the flight over the warzone defied common sense and was partially to blame for the tragedy.
On this altitude nothing happened before in this area. Until the moment of tragedy/crime the cruising altitude was considered safe by international community.
You have your facts all wrong.
Again, only 3 days before the Malaysian plane was shot down, a military cargo plane was shot down at 21,000 feet.
That is high altitude, far beyond the reach of portable AA systems.
“Ukraine’s minister of defense, Valeriy Heletey, said the plane was flying at 6,500 meters, or more than 21,000 feet, well beyond the reach of the shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles the rebels are known to have used before.”
Your claim that only portable AA systems were used before the Malaysian crash is now thoroughly debunked.
“It is written that the flight path was considered as safe according to the international aviation standards. “
That’s false. IATA did not make any independent assessment about the safety of the flight route, they simply conveyed the decision of Ukraine air traffic officials to raise the flight ceiling instead of avoiding the area.
And that decision is a big scandal, and partly to blame for the tragedy. Of course it wasn’t safe. Lots of airlines decided to avoid the area by policy, including all USA airlines. So no, it wasn’t considered safe by the international community.
The Malaysian flight crew protested the route and several traded shifts to avoid it. They obviously didn’t consider it safe.
“According to well-placed Malaysia Airlines sources, at least two cabin crew swapped shifts so they would not be on MH17, specifically because they were worried about the flightpath. The Mail on Sunday has been told worried pilots consulted air traffic controllers in Malaysia and also made an informal approach to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). But still Malaysia Airlines did not divert the route, unlike other carriers.
British Airways as well as all US airlines, Lufthansa, Air France and Qantas, were already avoiding the war zone in Ukraine, adding an extra 20 minutes’ flight time, and there is growing pressure on Malaysia Airlines to explain why it did not follow suit.”
(Note that the 20 minute figure is the cost of avoiding Ukraine entirely — the warzone is a tiny part of Ukraine and could have been easily avoided at a much lower cost)
Common sense would have been to divert air traffic around the war zone instead of simply raising the air ceiling.
“But the flight path of the Malaysian plane was few miles away from Luhansk. “
You’re also wrong about that.
The plane crashed before it got to Luhansk, but the flight path would have taken it right over it.