I know everyone is assuming a shoot-down. But, Airbus planes use a ‘fly-by-wire’ system. The pilots have a joystick they use to fly the plane, not a ‘wheel’, like Boeing aircraft do. With most Boeing aircraft, there is still a connection to the control surfaces, so the pilot has some control of the plane in case of a hydraulic system failure. It makes it VERY hard to steer, but it’s there.
What if the fly-by-wire system failed? The pilot would have no control over the plane. Conceivably, the plane could transition to a nose-WAY-down attitude with the pilot not being able to do anything. (Remember, reports are saying he radioed an in-flight emergency due to a ‘technical fault’.)
As for the burned bodies....if a plane, carrying an almost-full load of fuel, slams into the ground and explodes, you bet there will be burned bodies.
I am not totally dissing the idea of a shoot-down, but there are other possibilities. Sabotage? On-board bomb?
(Yes, I know these have been covered.)
Perhaps I misread...
I took the report to indicate burning in the process of the dive, the immediately preceding statement.
If the burning was post impact, that changes my perception of the report significantly.
And coffee, coffee will help me understand.
More likely a bomb or mechanical failure.
If isis actually did it as they claim look out below. The russians will hunt them down and destroy them. There will not be any strongly worded response.
We are what we experienced when. Putin was a young man during the years of the Afghanistan war, he was 27 when it started and 37 when the Berlin wall came down. Just like the legacy of Vietnam shaped some of us, like Schwarzkopf and Tommy Franks who swore never again, the events of Putins early adulthood shaped him. He will not lose a war with isis. That is my bet.