Posted on 12/11/2024 7:42:01 PM PST by Red Badger
Kremlin sources have revealed the tricks Russia reportedly used to smuggle President Bashar al-Assad out of Syria as his regime suddenly collapsed.
It comes as one of Vladimir Putin's allies confirmed for the first time today that Russia did indeed help the ousted dictator flee to Moscow.
Three sources told Bloomberg News that Moscow organised for Assad to escape via its air base on the Syrian coast, using a 'transponder trick'.
He was reportedly ordered to tell no-one, switch his transponder off and get on his private plane in the capital Damascus.
The aircraft then travelled to Russia’s Khmeimim air base on the Syrian coast, before Assad headed to Moscow, possibly on a military plane, the sources have claimed.
It is understood Putin personally approved Assad's rescue but has no intention of meeting him now he is in exile.
Agents working for the Russian government convinced Assad to leave the country immediately after it became clear he would lose a fight with the rebels, the Kremlin sources said.
It comes after flight-tracking website Flightradar24 showed a plane believed to be carrying Assad as he left the Syrian capital Damascus in the early hours of Sunday morning.
The plane headed towards the Mediterranean Sea, before making a U-turn and disappearing from the map.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
The TRANSGENDER trick that Putin used...Too much tranny stuff every day!
Musical Jets. When the engine stops, QUICKLY change your Jet and thus, your seat.
And of course it’s not remotely possible that he got away because no one was watching the airplanes and the Russians made this up from whole cloth to make themselves look brilliant.
Assad was probably planning on having his army fight in the Capital. He didn't expect them to collapse so quickly the way they did.
It was reported at the time that Assad’s (suspected) flight had disappeared from radar.
Turning off the transponder doesn't make the airplane invisible to radar (unless it's already a long, long way off), it just makes it unidentified. There's still a primary return.
There must be something more to this story... As a long time, pilot who lives on an airport and owns two airplanes... turning off your transponder just makes your airplane easier to identify on a radar screen along with providing more precise altitude information. It is hardly a trick.
Sleight, not slight.
Can a transponder be made to give a false ident?........
What really PISSES OFF the Neocons is that they didn’t get their dirty little hands on Assad. He’ll have a nice life in Russia, possibly going back to real profession, which is eye surgery, as opposed to trying to run a country flooded with terrorists.
1. Unless they’re deliberately flying low or otherwise to avoid such return, and 2. I have no direct knowledge of the circumstances, but, this is what was reported.
Hey, it’s the UK. You’re expecting English?
I thought he was a dentist................
What, were they going to shoot down his plane?
“I thought he was a dentist.”
Nope, eye surgeon, London-trained too. He had no intention of running that hell-hole, but his brother, who was being groomed for the job, somehow died young and he ended up running the show by default.
A transponder doesn't broadcast a fixed code. The pilot (or co-pilot) sets the transponder code as assigned by Air Traffic Control (ATC). The controller would say, for example, "Boeing N12345, squawk four-tree-seven-zero". The pilot or co-pilot would dial the transponder to 4370.
As for giving a "false" identification, anyone could dial a different code but ATC may call you on it. One way to give a false ident would be to have two planes that are flying a similar pattern, especially aligned along the same radian from ATC radar, "trade" transponder codes. Pilot A squawks Aircraft B's assigned code and vice versa. Then diverge and head to each other's destination. Anyone trying to follow Pilot A might be surprised when they realize they're approaching a MiG instead of the corporate jet they thought they were intercepting.
A simpler approach would be to file a flight plan as a different aircraft than you're actually flying, take off from a private runway, (no control tower) pretending you're someone else, and get routed to your destination as though you were a charter flight or something routine versus an escaping VIP.
If you're remote enough, you're not assigned a code until you're under positive control from ATC. If flying under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) in general airspace in Europe for example, you'll squawk 7000. If you don't ascend above 18,000 feet, you could pass yourself off as a general aviation aircraft flying under VFR rules until you've gotten away to a safe distance.
Meanwhile:
"Lebanese Christians celebrate Assad’s fall, see it as justice for years of oppression"
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/260963/lebanese-christians-celebrate-assads-fall-seeing-it-as-justice-for-years-of-oppression
So Putin was flying the plane?
Well, he may miss his car collection...
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