[Alberta's Child]

Terrorism is unlikely IF the aircraft was really shot down. I’ve pointed this out a number of times over the years …

1. A terrorist looking to shoot down a civilian aircraft flying eastbound out of JFK International Airport never would have been positioned so far east where the flight would normally be flying at an altitude of 30,000+ feet.

2. From what I’ve seen, TWA Flight 800 was flying far below its normal altitude at that point in its flight that night — to make way for a northbound flight into Providence, Rhode Island that was running behind schedule. A terrorist wouldn’t have known this in advance when plotting an attack using a surface-to-air missile.

[null and void]

From what I’ve seen, TWA Flight 800 was flying far below its normal altitude at that point in its flight that night — to make way for a northbound flight into Providence, Rhode Island that was running behind schedule. A terrorist wouldn’t have known this in advance when plotting an attack using a surface-to-air missile.

Neither would people running a live fire drill expecting an incoming threat from an unknown direction at a far below normal flight path. They might assume it was spoof squawking with a commercial transponder as a surprise countermeasure.

Seems I remember the USS Vincennes mistaking an Iranian airliner for an inbound fighter jet, about 2 years earlier. Perhaps exactly 2 years in the mohammedan calendar?

[PghBaldy]

OK.