Shoulder-Fired Missiles Pose Serious Threat to Passenger Jets

ABC News ^ | March 27, 2006 | BRIAN ROSS, JILL RACKMILL and ERIC LONGABARDI

[Quilla]

The potential target: an American commercial jet.

The potential weapon: a shoulder-to-air missile that terrorists fire at the jet on takeoff.

Worldwide, at least 24 civilian aircraft have been brought down by shoulder-fired missiles, and more than 500 people have been killed. And experts say that shoulder-to-air missiles can be bought for only a few thousand dollars on the black market. But U.S. commercial aircraft still have no defense system against these portable missiles.

Scare in Los Angeles

Last November, just minutes after takeoff from Los Angeles International Airport, an American Airlines pilot reported that something resembling a rocket might have been fired at his aircraft.

"American 612, can you verify whether you saw a flare or a rocket?" radioed an air-traffic controller.

"It looked more like a rocket to me," the pilot responded. "I'm pretty sure it was a rocket of some kind, because it had a definite plume coming out behind it."

The immediate concern was that the plume was in fact the trail of a shoulder-fired missile. The Coast Guard dispatched a cutter and a helicopter, and the FBI opened an investigation.

"We searched the area," said U.S. Coast Guard Lieutenant Clay Clary. "Nothing was found."

Although officials concluded it was most likely a hobby rocket, the investigation remains officially open.

"We had a scare in Los Angeles," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who serves on the Senate Subcommittee on Aviation. "We've been told that they cannot rule out the fact that it was a shoulder-fired missile."

Although all the attacks to date have been on foreign soil, a potential attack on an American commercial jet remains a very serious concern. They say that an estimated 20,000 shoulder-fired missiles, most of them made in Russia, are for sale on worldwide black markets.

"It's a disaster waiting to happen," Boxer said.

The most recent attack was on a DHL cargo plane hit while taking off from Baghdad in November 2003. The plane managed to land safely with its left wing on fire.

In November 2002, an Israeli charter plane carrying tourists was fired at on takeoff from Mombasa, Kenya. The attack intensified Israeli efforts to equip its civilian aircraft against shoulder-to-air missiles

[Zavien Doombringer]

http://cometography.com/pcomets/073p.html

[Moose4]

Really, any airport is vulnerable to a point. IR SAMs have a small engagement envelope, only a few thousand feet altitude, but anyplace where jets are landing or taking off would be well within that reach. Especially at takeoff, where the engines are making a lot more power and heat for the missile to track.

I can think of a few off the top of my head, but won't say anything. Anybody who travels much or is an airplane nut like me can probably think of a few vulnerable airports as well.

}:-)4

[bd476]

Ping.

[RightWhale]

Yeah, it's fairly fresh.

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/24mar_73p.htm?list237669 has the story.

[finnman69]

This has potential disaster


BUT


These handheld SAMs are designed for knocking down helicopters, not jumbo jets. They might knock out an engine, but in all likeliehood the airliner would not crash, unless the aircraft was targeted during landings or takeoffs when the aircraft was at low altitude and close to stall speed.

[bd476]

Quilla wrote: "I do too. A freeper (I can't think of her name right now) had heard this on her local news and started a thread. I've been searching for it, but to no avail."

This may be the thread you were looking for:

Missile Attack On Passenger Jet?

[Quilla]

That's the one! Thank you.

[G.Mason]

"They can cause sparks in fuel tanks!"

Excuse me?

Any further outbreaks like that and you will be sent back to the reprogramming institute.

... James Kallestrom

[SampleMan]

Man portable SAMs are IR, not radar guided.

There are also MANPADS with LOS RF control and laser beam riders, but IR rules. With regard to terrorists, nothing other than IR is available to them.

[BluH2o]

When I lived outside DC in the late 1980s, I used to go down to the Potomac and watch the planes shoot the Potomac River visual approach into Washington National.

The probability that someone would fire a shoulder launched anti-aircraft missile at an aircraft, on a landing pattern, just minutes from touchdown is unlikely. What they prefer to target is a fuel laden aircraft that has just taken off ... like TWA Flt. 800. LAX is vulnerable, especially late at night when flights to Manila, Hong Kong, Singapore, or Australia depart ... these aircraft are gorged with fuel.

[bd476]

You're welcome. :-)

[E. Pluribus Unum]

As if it hasn't already happened.

[Riley]

Some of the designs on that page on the right sidebar are a scream. One looks kind of like a flying hippy, or something.

[Sax]

It's Bert from Seasame Street. Check out this Bert Rocket Race, totally bizaare. That's how I saw this site originally, someone forwarded this page as a funny email.


http://www.vatsaas.org/rtv/misc/GHS2002/bertrace/bertrace.aspx

[Riley]

I found the page just after I posted that. Good for a chuckle or three. :-)

[TC Rider]

The potential weapon: a shoulder-to-air missile that terrorists fire at the jet on takeoff.

They are readily available at gun shows without a background check, right next to the assault weapons.

This article is a joke, we all know the preferred terrorist weapon for dropping a jetliner is the .50 caliber rifle.

/sarcasm

[cchandler]

"As sick a thought as this is, I've often wondered about it. When I lived outside DC in the late 1980s, I used to go down to the Potomac and watch the planes shoot the Potomac River visual approach into Washington National. They follow the river from Georgetown down over the bridges and then hang a hard right to the runway at practically the last second. I've thought to myself, all it'd take is one whackjob with an SA-16, who didn't care if he got caught or not, and one isolated corner of a park, and you'd have the potential of a jetliner crashing into the Potomac--or worse, if it veered to one side or the other--in full view of thousands of people."

I think about that every time I drive past National on a weekend and see all of the cars/trucks parked on every patch of grass. because of the river, you know exactly where every northbound plane is heading. Considering that we're facing a suicidal enemy, I'm amazed that we haven't had someone pop up out of a convertible/sun roof/boat and shoot down a plane headed straight for the 14th street bridge, or worse, the Mall.

[Velveeta]

Thanks for the ping.
It only took the MSM 4 months to catch on to this story.

[50sDad]

They certainly did to Flight 800! (Whups, sorry...not really. That was the Clinton administration, before terrorists existed!)

[Gritty]

Yet Sarah Brady insists that .50 caliber rifles are the real danger

Sara Brady is looking in the wrong direction, as usual.

An old 23mm AAA hidden in the back of a tractor trailer truck or dump truck would be much more dangerous and there are a lot of them around.

Somehow, I don't think it would be too hard to sneak some in across any of our borders or move them around once in here. They're not very big and weigh much less than an average automobile. They are more than capable to bring down any airplane an airline owns in a few seconds.

ZU-23 23MM Antiaircraft Gun
Length 4.57 m
Height 2.87m
Width 1.83
Combat Weight 950 kg

Armament:

Antiaircraft gun, Twin 23mm air -cooled ZAP 23 cannons, traverses 360 degrees
Maximum effective range (vertical) 2,500 meters
Rate of fire Maximum: 800-1000 rds/min/barrel, Sustained: 200rds/min/barrel
Type of ammunition: API-T, HEI-T
Fire Control: Optical-mechanical sight
Vehicle: (prime mover): UAZ-69 jeep
Maximum road speed: 90km/hr (56 mph)
Water Crossing ability: Fords 1.1m (3.5 feet)
Cruising range (on roads): 530 km (330 miles)