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Feds probe SAM fired at airliner report
United Press International ^ | 12/2/2005 | United Press International

Posted on 12/02/2005 11:52:19 AM PST by RogerWilko

WASHINGTON, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- FBI agents and Homeland Security officials have been investigating the report of a possible missile fired at an American Airlines plane taking off from Los Angeles International Airport.

Sources told ABC News in Los Angeles that the pilot of American Airlines Flight 621, en route to Chicago, radioed air traffic controllers after takeoff from LAX. He told them a missile had been fired at the aircraft and missed.

The plane was over water when the pilot said he saw a smoke trail pass by the cockpit.

FBI agents believe it was a flare or a bottle rocket, but say they may never know if that's what it actually was, KYW Newsradio 1060 reported.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aa; aa612; airliner; airlines; attack; flight612; flight621; lax; missile; plane; sam; terror
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To: antaresequity

My inner kook thinks the FBI PR officer decided s/he couldn't take the BS anymore and decided to add the bottle rocket explanation as being too stupid for anyone to believe. IF this doesn't get wide play in the media, and that PR person is still employed, look for the next explanation the next time this happens (God forbid) to be something that mentions ballistic chipmunks or some such.


61 posted on 12/02/2005 12:35:23 PM PST by Liberty Tree Surgeon
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To: tiredoflaundry

That would be one heck of a flare too wouldn't it?


62 posted on 12/02/2005 12:36:12 PM PST by Frapster (Don't mind me - I'm distracted by the pretty lights.)
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To: RogerWilko
"KYW Newsradio 1060 reported."

KYW?

KYW is a radio station in Philadelphia.

Why would a radio station in Philadelphia be quoted about an incident in Los Angeles?

63 posted on 12/02/2005 12:39:06 PM PST by chs68
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To: RogerWilko

Yeah. Sure.

Just a bottle rocket. It's common knowledge that bottle rockets reach 6000 feet into the air.

Maybe they fired off a lit-up spud from a potato launcher.


64 posted on 12/02/2005 12:39:56 PM PST by Mr. Brightside
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To: antaresequity
but not the rocketeers you speak of.

I certainly wouldn't think so either. I know these guys get FAA clearance when they launch, but there is no control over the technology so you don't know who else might be playing with them.
65 posted on 12/02/2005 12:40:15 PM PST by keat (Who the f___ is I. Lewis Libby?)
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To: Liberty Tree Surgeon
... the bottle rocket explanation as being too stupid for anyone to believe.

Your average MSM reporter will buy the story. They don't know a bottle rocket from a SAM.

66 posted on 12/02/2005 12:41:54 PM PST by 6SJ7
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To: 6SJ7
They don't know a bottle rocket from a SAM.

A bottle rocket is a SAM as long as it is launched into the air. Where did that 6,000 ft. figure come from?

67 posted on 12/02/2005 12:53:16 PM PST by Fester Chugabrew
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To: RogerWilko
FBI agents believe it was a flare or a bottle rocket, but say they may never know if that's what it actually was,...

This statement really instills a lot of confidence in me of Homeland Security. They don't know what it was but they say it is something harmless. I feel real secure knowing that they keep acquiring power to eventually oppress the legal population but don't know diddly squat about the saboteurs. they can't know enough about the sleeper cell aboteurs because El Presedente Jorge lets so many sneak across the border.

68 posted on 12/02/2005 12:59:53 PM PST by LoneRangerMassachusetts (Some say what's good for others, the others make the goods; it's the meddlers against the peddlers)
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To: RogerWilko

Looks like FR kept this alive long enough for someone to not be able to sweep it under the rug.


69 posted on 12/02/2005 1:00:47 PM PST by Centurion2000 ((Aubrey, Tx) --- America, we get the best government corporations can buy.)
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To: H. Paul Pressler IV

Well the CIA must give you the warm and fuzzies.


70 posted on 12/02/2005 1:39:14 PM PST by gathersnomoss
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To: keat

That's been my leading theory in terms of what it was. Of course, WHY it was is another matter. One of those bad boys, with the right "stuff" in its nose cone, and ...


71 posted on 12/02/2005 1:42:25 PM PST by GOP_1900AD (Stomping on "PC," destroying the Left, and smoking out faux "conservatives" - Take Back The GOP!)
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To: antaresequity

But what about, oh, say, something like the Cal State Dominguez Hills Islamic Brotherhood or something like that. Maybe a few of them also happened to be engineering students who just happened to be fascinated with this sort of rocketry. The question needs to be asked, at least.


72 posted on 12/02/2005 1:44:22 PM PST by GOP_1900AD (Stomping on "PC," destroying the Left, and smoking out faux "conservatives" - Take Back The GOP!)
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To: antaresequity

Great tagline.


73 posted on 12/02/2005 1:44:51 PM PST by SAMWolf (The cost of feathers has risen, now even down is up)
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To: gathersnomoss

That bottle rocket obviously had its nose section fall off due to an internal fuel tank explosion, at which point in defiance to all known laws of aerodynamics it climbed another 2000 feet with its engines at idle and then exploded. If it is good enough for the FBI it is good enough for me. /SARCASM


74 posted on 12/02/2005 2:04:07 PM PST by cpdiii (roughneck (oil field trash and proud off it), geologist, pilot, pharmacist, full time iconoclast)
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To: antaresequity
A commercial airliner departing LAX over the ocean would be at least 3500 feet

Outbound departures take off much lower than that, and hit the shoreline at an altitude of about 500-700 feet. From the runway to the actual waterline is about a half a mile, depending on which runway is used.

75 posted on 12/02/2005 2:08:18 PM PST by Jigsaw John
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To: cpdiii

Ha.


76 posted on 12/02/2005 2:08:24 PM PST by gathersnomoss
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To: Shermy

"Have you ever flown out of LA International? Looked like to me just a couple hundred feet above the beach.
"

Depending on the runway, you're often over the ocean almost immediately after takeoff. LAX is actually right on the ocean.

I believe, however, the 6000 feet altitude was reported in another story.


77 posted on 12/02/2005 2:13:28 PM PST by MineralMan (godless atheist)
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To: Centurion2000

I was just thinking the same thing.


78 posted on 12/02/2005 2:16:43 PM PST by Steelerfan
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To: adamsjas
The bigger question is does anyone believe a SAM would miss at that distance?

Sure, if the proximity fuse crapped out, or the warhead failed to detonate. The older SAM's are really only good in a tail chase, because they require the engine heat as something to home in on. They can fail to quite correct enough to actually hit that engine, but they have proximity fuses so that if they merely get close, their warhead is supposed to detonate. The description almost sounds like whatever it was passed ahead of the aircraft, which might mean it was fired too soon to "see" the hot engine exhaust and never locked on.

79 posted on 12/02/2005 2:17:54 PM PST by El Gato
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To: MineralMan
Not quite right on the ocean. There is a distance of about 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile, depending on which runway is used. The north runway is closer to the waterline than the south, which I would guess is close to 3/4 of a mile. Dockweiler state beach sits right in front of LAX westbound departures.

You can bet, the even the sand and rocks at that beach have ears and eyes.

80 posted on 12/02/2005 2:17:59 PM PST by Jigsaw John
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