Posted on 11/02/2015 5:53:03 PM PST by amorphous
Earlier today, we highlighted commentary from Russiaâs Kogalymavia (the airline operating the ill-fated Airbus A321 which crashed in the Sinai Peninsula) where officials said human and technical factors werenât responsible for the mid-air disaster which killed 224 people.
IS Sinai took credit for âdestroyingâ the plane but it wasnât immediately clear what the contention was in terms of just how the group went about sabotaging the flight. Subsequently, a series of analysts and commentators opined that there was simply no way the militants could have possessed the technology or the expertise to shoot down a plane flying at 31,000 feet, but as Kogalymavia put it, âa plane cannot simply disintegrate.â
In short, it seems as though something exploded, and while we canât know for sure whether someone detonated on board or whether, as former NTSB investigator Alan Diehl told CNN, "final destruction" of the plane was the result of "aerodynamic forces or some other type of G-forces,â the circumstances are exceptionally suspicious especially given where the plane was flying and the current rather âtenseâ relationship between Moscow and Sunni extremists.
Now, the US has apparently ruled out the possibility that a projectile hit the plane but satellite imagery depicts a âheat flashâ at the time of the crash which indicates âsome kind of explosion on the aircraft itself, either a fuel tank or a bomb.â Hereâs NBC:
While many have speculated that a missile may have struck a Russian commercial airliner that went down over Egypt's Sinai peninsula, U.S. officials are now saying satellite imagery doesn't back up that theory.
A senior defense official told NBC News late Monday that an American infrared satellite detected a heat flash at the same time and in the same vicinity over the Sinai where the Russian passenger plane crashed.
According to the official, U.S. intelligence analysts believe it could have been some kind of explosion on the aircraft itself, either a fuel tank or a bomb, but that there's no indication that a surface-to-air missile brought the plane down.
That same infrared satellite would have been able to track the heat trail of a missile from the ground.
"The speculation that this plane was brought down by a missile is off the table," the official said.
A second senior U.S. defense official also confirmed the surveillance satellite detected a "flash or explosion" in the air over the Sinai at the same time.
According to the official, "the plane disintegrated at a very high altitude," when, as the infrared satellite indicates, "there was an explosion of some kind."
That official also stressed "there is no evidence a missile of any kind brought down the plane"
We'd be remiss if we didn't note that the video released by ISIS which purports to depict the plane exploding in mid-air doesn't appear to show any kind of missile, but rather seems to suggest that someone on the ground knew the exact time when the aircraft was set to explode.
To be clear, there's always the possibility that this is a coincidence and that the explosion which brought down the plane wasn't terror related, but given the circumstances, you certainly can't blame anyone for suspecting the worst and as we noted earlier, the Sinai Peninsula is well within the range of Russia's warplanes flying from Latakia:
Bomb? Onboard fire?
I will patiently await the investigation results because it is fruitless to speculate, but I am confused about one thing - did’nt the pilot radio in right before the crash about technical difficulties?
Unless they consulted ClockBoy.
ML/NJ
I am convinced that hillary/obama supplied anti aircraft missiles to Al Qaeda affiliates to deny the skies to Qaddafi because the French would not allow a no”fly zone” in the crappy UN. . After they killed him they tried and failed to BUY THEM BACK in Benghazi with 31 cia weapons experts on the ground to transport them in C130s that flew in with Stevens for the “BUY”!!. When it blew up,they panicked with the LIE that is now so well known.
I now believe that one of hillary’s missiles was use on the innocents 31,000 feet over the Sinai!! “Oh what tangled webs we weave”!!
My question also. Not too many facts to put into a timeline.
did not the pilot radio in right before the crash about technical difficulties?
Could it be that he was having trouble getting the plane to Mach 2 in order to outrun the missile?
No. That was false reporting.
“but I am confused about one thing - didânt the pilot radio in right before the crash about technical difficulties?:
No. That report turned out to be false. Nothing from the plane indicating trouble. Flying one instant and disintegrating and falling to the ground the next.
Maybe my tinfoil is not tight enough, or perhaps too tight.
I do not believe much if anything from a ‘government spokesman’.
Those pesky center fuel tanks again.
Maybe it was the center fuel tank exploding.
If it was a missile, it was given to them by Obama.
The video I watched, if valid, appeared to be a chase plane within less than a mile.
Remote detonation seems plausible...
...unless they used an Ahmed clock to coordinate their video in chase of the detonation.../s
Thanks. Another example of why you can’t trust early reporting on incidents like this one.
A bomb is certainly a possibility and any hull rupture at that altitude and speed would certainly cause the plane to break up.
Sad for the loss of life and hope they get to the bottom of it.
Apparently this never happened. As usual there are a lot of rumors and errors in statements made too soon after an air disaster.
Sounds like an on-board bomb to me.The Russian part is just too coincidental.
My first impression was bomb loaded onto plane by Islamic ground crew.
You can be certain that forensic examination of the wreckage and a thorough review of the flight voice and data recorders will reveal the cause of the crash.
Also, contrary to the often slanderous comments made about covering up the causes of air disasters, the Russians do in fact have a pretty good track record for following the evidence - the Ukrainian MH shoot-down being the one huge example to the contrary.
This case does not have the geopolitical aspects of the MH disaster, however. I think we can be very confident that we will learn what happened. I think it may turn out to be a bojinka type exploit.
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