Posted on 07/06/2002 11:34:12 AM PDT by Petar Mrkonjic
Ukraine: Meteorite may have caused flash that alarmed pilot
By Yossi Melman, Ha'aretz Correspondent, News agencies
A meteorite may have caused the flash that alarmed an Israeli pilot flying over Ukraine, Ukrainian officials said Saturday, insisting that it wasn't a missile.
An El Al pilot reported seeing a missile fired from the ground over central Ukraine during a Tel Aviv-Moscow flight on Thursday night. Israeli officials said the missile exploded a few miles away from the plane.
Three Russian pilots confirmed Saturday they had seen a sizeable flash in the area of the El Al plane over eastern Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said Ukraine had not conducted any missile launches since accidentally downing a Russian airliner on a flight last October from Tel Aviv to Novosibirsk in Siberia, killing 78 passengers and crew. Many of the passengers were new immigrants to Israel from the former Soviet Union.
On Saturday, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry released a statement saying no missiles had been fired in the area that night, and that the pilots may have witnessed a meteorite entering the Earth's atmosphere.
Officials from Ukraine's National Space Agency also suggested a meteorite could have been the culprit, as did Yaroslav Skalko, deputy chairman of Ukraine's civil aviation department, ITAR-Tass and Interfax reported.
"The airplane crews who saw over Ukrainian territory on July 4 a flash that resembled a missile explosion were observing phenomena of unidentified origin not related to the activities of the Ukrainian armed forces," the Defense Ministry statement said.
The ministry said the stocks of missiles and other long-range ammunition were inspected and nothing was missing, according to ITAR-Tass and Interfax.
Ukrainian government officials told Israeli officials Friday that it was prepared to work with Israel in its investigation of the incident.
Transport Minister Ephraim Sneh said Friday that the Israeli plane had never been in any danger and voiced doubts it had come under attack.
Sneh said he had spoken at length with the El Al pilot, whom he described as an experienced combat veteran of the Israel Air Force.
"There is no doubt that he saw a missile that exploded in the air, apparently far from the plane," Sneh told Army Radio. "Circumstances suggest it was not launched at the El Al plane."
Amos Shapira, El Al's managing director, told Army Radio: "The pilot saw a flash... It was at least 10 to 100 miles [16 to 160 kilometers] away. The plane was in no danger."
This is the second external confirmation of the report: the pilot of a Ukrainian plane also reported seeing a flash in the sky at the time.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said Ukraine had not conducted any missile launches since accidentally downing a Russian airliner on a flight last October from Tel Aviv to Novosibirsk in Siberia, killing 78 passengers and crew. Many of the passengers were new immigrants to Israel from the former Soviet Union.
Ukrainian government officials told Israeli officials Friday that it was prepared to work with Israel in its investigation of the incident.
With the announcement, Ukrainian officials were not denying the possibility that they were connected to the incident, but said they had thoroughly investigated the matter and found no connection.
Transport Minister Ephraim Sneh said Friday that the Israeli plane had never been in any danger and voiced doubts it had come under attack.
Sneh said he had spoken at length with the El Al pilot, whom he described as an experienced combat veteran of the Israel Air Force.
"There is no doubt that he saw a missile that exploded in the air, apparently far from the plane," Sneh told Army Radio. "Circumstances suggest it was not launched at the El Al plane."
Reports of the purported missile launch followed an attack at an El Al counter at Los Angeles airport in which a gunman killed two people before security guards shot him dead.
The Ukrainian government said the military had not fired a missile. "At that time there was no military training with shooting in Ukraine," Defense Ministry spokesman Kostiantyn Khivrenko said. "Nobody shot even from cannons and automatic rifles, not only in that direction, but in all Ukraine."
Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma said that since the shooting down of the Sibir Airlines plane, "all missile exercises in Ukraine have been banned."
Amos Shapira, El Al's managing director, told Army Radio: "The pilot saw a flash... It was at least 10 to 100 miles [16 to 160 kilometers] away. The plane was in no danger."
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that meteorites fall from the sky instead of flying upwards from the ground.
And the LAX gunmen was just trying to get paid for his overdue El Al invoices!
La-la land is such fun!
(Wake me up when we're all dead).
Don't miss this one.
I wonder if our satellites got a launch-detection? We may never know.
La-la-lala, connect the dots...
That is one of the "No Dongs" meterorite. They always fall from the ground, upward.
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