Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

No Shoot Down of Stolen Plane Says U.S. Air Defense : Why Not? Terrorist must be laughing!
Associated Content ^ | 4/9/09 | Bobby Tall Horse

Posted on 04/09/2009 10:01:42 AM PDT by stillafreemind

Mike Kucharek, a spokesman for North American Aerospace Defense Command, is being reported in an article on Foxnews.com that very shortly after American F-16s started following the stolen plane, they knew they wouldn't shoot it down. Why?

(Excerpt) Read more at associatedcontent.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Government; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: bordersecurity; hijack; norad; noshootdown; shootdown; stolenplane; yavuzberke
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-59 next last
To: Nebr FAL owner
lets see a cessna 172 with say 100 lbs of improvised explosives or even stolen industrial explosives flown into a shopping mall or school won’t do much damage . Hell you don’t even need the explosives just several 5 gallon cans of gasoline & full fuel tanks . to give you a serious nightmare.

Yeah right, with F16's hovering over him. All they have to do is fly in front of him and tell the FAA where the wreckage is. I could do a lot more damage with a 3000 lb car than a 1200 lb plane.

21 posted on 04/09/2009 10:38:11 AM PDT by LeGrande (I once heard a smart man say that you canÂ’t reason someone out of something that they didnÂ’t reaso)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Lucky Dog

> Just as an aside, the cost of one AIM 9 would buy several of those Cessna’s. Therefore, it shooting it down could have potentially done as much damage as not, and wasted thousands of taxpayer dollars in the process, why bother?

They don’t have machine guns anymore, ay?

I don’t really mind whether they shot the Cessna down or not: I am somewhat suspicious of the pilot’s motives and not quite convinced it was as harmless as we are being told.

> If you think throwing something out of the window would have dispersed some toxin or bio-agent, how much more would have an explosion from the aircraft fuel tank hit by a missile warhead or 20 mm rounds have dispersed it?

In the case of Foot-and-Mouth Disease, it is destroyed by fire. That’s why Britain had to burn the cattle carcasses: it was the best and safest way to dispose of them. So exploding the plane would have been a fairly sensible thing to do if they were sure he was carrying FMD. If it were nuclear waste or something else, perhaps not.


22 posted on 04/09/2009 10:38:51 AM PDT by DieHard the Hunter (Is mise an ceann-cinnidh. Cha ghéill mi do dhuine. Fàg am bealach.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: stillafreemind
Shooting the plane down AFTER a vial or two goes out the window is a little late..huh?

If that's your method ... lots easier and harder to detect if you do it from a car.

Admit it: you don't really care about rational thought, you just wanted the big cloud of flaming debris.

23 posted on 04/09/2009 10:47:08 AM PDT by r9etb
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: autumnraine
Given that they were ordered to not shoot it down, I suppose a lot of damage. The F16’s wouuld just be forced to watch.

A lot of damage? Like hitting the side of a school and making a mess for the janitor to clean up? Seriously, people have no idea how light and fragile small planes are.

24 posted on 04/09/2009 10:48:33 AM PDT by LeGrande (I once heard a smart man say that you canÂ’t reason someone out of something that they didnÂ’t reaso)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: DieHard the Hunter

no more MGs on planes, not since Korea.

all guns now are cannon.


25 posted on 04/09/2009 10:52:47 AM PDT by rahbert
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: DieHard the Hunter
They don’t have machine guns anymore, ay?

No. What they have are 20mm Gatling cannons capable of firing 6000 round per minute. Each round can cost more than $5.00 each. Its not as expensive as a missile, but it still isn’t cheap.

I don’t really mind whether they shot the Cessna down or not: I am somewhat suspicious of the pilot’s motives and not quite convinced it was as harmless as we are being told.

Perhaps, you are correct. It still doesn’t change the calculations making a shoot-down more costly in most ways than not.

In the case of Foot-and-Mouth Disease, it is destroyed by fire. That’s why Britain had to burn the cattle carcasses: it was the best and safest way to dispose of them. So exploding the plane would have been a fairly sensible thing to do if they were sure he was carrying FMD. If it were nuclear waste or something else, perhaps not.

You have answered the question in your last sentence.
26 posted on 04/09/2009 10:53:20 AM PDT by Lucky Dog
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: r9etb

Ummm..Does Cordova Illinois mean anything to you?

Do you actually KNOW about livestock airborne diseases?

Think it was “easy” to hi-jack the airliners and fly into the towers? What the heck was “easy” about that? It took a bit of preparation.

I think you just don’t want anything to point towards a weakened security in this country since Obama and Crew came in. LOL..taking it out on me will not make our country safer!


27 posted on 04/09/2009 10:55:37 AM PDT by stillafreemind
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: LeGrande

Some nut flew a comparable plane into the White House some years back - I mean full-on impact. Building damage was negligible, plane was a complete loss.

Another similar plane was stolen & flown into an office building not long after 9/11 (inspired thereby). One office was damaged.

Launching missiles or firing 30mm cannons full-auto would do a lot more harm (and cost more) than they would prevent.


28 posted on 04/09/2009 10:56:29 AM PDT by ctdonath2 (John Galt was exiled.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: Cindy; callmejoe; Velveeta

FYI ping


29 posted on 04/09/2009 11:03:20 AM PDT by Oorang (Tyranny thrives best where government need not fear the wrath of an armed people - Alex Kozinski)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: stillafreemind
a vial or two goes out the window

Groan.

1. The idea of the "single vial that could destroy the country" is fictional BS. Stop watching so many movies. "12 Monkeys" was a story, not a documentary.

In the extremely unlikely chance that someone COULD get their hands on that "single vial that could destroy the country" (getting past extremely high security to acquire it, or have the pricy resources needed to create it, exercising enough costly safety measures to actually handle & transport the thing far enough without terminating the courier, etc.)...

2. Tossing it out of an aircraft is about the least effective delivery mechanism possible. All that effort just to miss the optimal target by hundreds of yards, if not miles? c'mon. If it's that potent, just drive/walk downtown at lunch hour.

There's reasonable concern, then there's hysterical paranoia. It took several guys competently hijacking a fully-fueled airliner to bring down a building, not some kid with little more than a powered hanglider.

30 posted on 04/09/2009 11:06:11 AM PDT by ctdonath2 (John Galt was exiled.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: LeGrande
>>> I could do a lot more damage with a 3000 lb car than a 1200 lb plane. <<<

Of course you ignore the fact that airplanes have access to places a car can't go - the tanks in an oil farm, the dome of a capitol building, an office tower, the catalytic towers in a refinery, the stadium of a county fair. Loaded with appropriate explosive material, the damage it could do could make a car bomb pale in comparison. Escorting F-16's are at a serious disadvantage. The Cessna can stay in the air at speeds that the F-16's lose control. A Cessna flying at 1500' can drop and crash a target before the F-16's can circle to make a pass - much less radio for final clearance to engage!

Your pre-Wright-Brothers mentality is curious.

31 posted on 04/09/2009 11:12:14 AM PDT by HardStarboard ("The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule - Mencken knew Obama)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: ChicagahAl

They must have talked to his mom, and she said he is a good boy and does’t have a gun.


32 posted on 04/09/2009 11:14:26 AM PDT by Rj Snows
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: stillafreemind

I would like to know if the 16’s were actually carrying live weapons. Does the U.S. Air Force keep interceptors on hot alert with live weapons in the upper mid-west?


33 posted on 04/09/2009 11:15:00 AM PDT by technically right
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: stillafreemind
Well, you have a screen name ... but that doesn't mean your screen name is accurate. But then, perhaps you were going for irony when you selected it.

The fact is that this guy was immediately spotted and tracked. What more do you want?

34 posted on 04/09/2009 11:17:33 AM PDT by r9etb
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: r9etb

You missed the point, broadcasting what will or will not be done to a potential enemy is simply not very wise.


35 posted on 04/09/2009 11:19:15 AM PDT by iopscusa (El Vaquero. (SC Lowcountry Cowboy))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: LeGrande
What little bit of something thrown out over vacant farmland could wipe out a chunk of livestock and people? I don't think I will hold my breath waiting for an answer. Ebola? Anthrax? Ricin? I don't think so. It is hard to think of a worse delivery method.

LOL! You reminded me of my very first Tac Eval when I was an Army butterbar. While I was briefing the Wing Commander (Hahn AB) on our air defense positions, an input came in that Ramstein had been hit with a nonpersistent nerve agent.

The Base Disaster Preparedness Officer, an AF Captain, recommended that the entire base go to Alarm Red, which meant that everybody would have to don all of their protective gear. To put it mildly, normal operations would have been severely impeded. Before the Wing Cdr could say anything, I piped up "may I make a recommendation, sir?"

"Sir, I recommend Alarm Yellow (no masks) for the following reasons:"

"1. Ramstein is at least 60 miles east of us, the winds are westerly."

"2. It's raining like hell outside, so the stuff is virtually harmless."

The Wing Commander said, "I like your idea, LT...Alarm Yellow it is." As he said that, I could see the Chief Evaluator nodding his head.

Thirty minutes later, I heard the Wing Cdr say "I want that Army LT up here whenever there's an NBC input."

36 posted on 04/09/2009 11:20:23 AM PDT by Night Hides Not (Don't blame me...I voted for Palin!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: HardStarboard
Of course you ignore the fact that airplanes have access to places a car can't go - the tanks in an oil farm, the dome of a capitol building, an office tower, the catalytic towers in a refinery, the stadium of a county fair.

Yeah ... and you could build mortars from materials available at your local hardware store and get the same effect with better mobility and fewer chances of being spotted.

As this example shows, a small airplane is a wretchedly poor means of delivering a telling blow. It was spotted and tracked. Even if you flew one into a spot like that ... in a big-picture sense, so what? It's local damage only. Hardly a country-shaking event.

37 posted on 04/09/2009 11:22:35 AM PDT by r9etb
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: stillafreemind

Alex, what is “They saw a white guy was flying it?”


38 posted on 04/09/2009 11:22:57 AM PDT by CholeraJoe (I'd rather be eating sushi off Nicole Scherzinger's nekkid body.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: HardStarboard
A Cessna flying at 1500' can drop and crash a target before the F-16's can circle to make a pass - much less radio for final clearance to engage!

Drop and crash a target? Have you ever flown a 172? LOL

Your pre-Wright-Brothers mentality is curious.

Would you care to match your CV with mine when it comes to aviation? Two days ago I rode a wave to 34,000'.

39 posted on 04/09/2009 11:30:00 AM PDT by LeGrande (I once heard a smart man say that you canÂ’t reason someone out of something that they didnÂ’t reaso)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: Night Hides Not

Great post.

Sometimes cooler heads just have to prevail : )


40 posted on 04/09/2009 11:35:08 AM PDT by LeGrande (I once heard a smart man say that you canÂ’t reason someone out of something that they didnÂ’t reaso)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-59 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson