Ukraine Boeing 737 with at least 160 aboard crashes

Same reason USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air Flight 655*

People panic under stress.

That seems to be the most plausible explanation right now.

Remember the FAA had told US civilian aircraft to exit the area, and both Al Jazeera and at least 1 website had reported that B-52's had left Diego Garcia for Iran. They'd have been waiting for something inbound...

That's the point. B-52s don't just appear on a radar scope out of thin air. And most definitely not around 8000 ft MSL. And probably not flying inland and outbound from the country's capital.

Assuming the route took the flight towards a military base, as Iran claimed, it still seems extremely unlikely to me that any US aircraft, let alone a B-52, would be approaching the base from there.

Now, it seems likely that SAM operators were under immense pressure at the time, and I guess they were very likely to assume hostile intent. But from my point of view, everything about that particular flight was practically screaming to be the least likely attack path: southwest of Tehran, outbound to the northwest, slow but slowly accelerating, low but slowly climbing, known departure route from the country's biggest airport, scheduled flight, at least ADS-B operational, almost certainly in radio contact with the tower (departure controller)... it just doesn't make any sense to shoot that down.

I don't know if SAM systems like SA-15 are receiving ADS-B ?

Yes I know, we all have Flight Radar 24 or something like that on our smartphone, but it doesn't mean that SAM operators are using it.

Sadly I think those things will happen again and again if idiots are in charge on at least one or worse both sides.

 

The ones to blame are imho not the officer who had to make a splitt second decision but the two clowns who's names we all know.

 

Innocent Blood on their hands is their pay, what a dirty show.

Only “clowns” I know were left out of the loop because they cannot keep their mouths shut!

Looks like dead link.

Works for me.

I don't know if SAM systems like SA-15 are receiving ADS-B ?

 

Yes I know, we all have Flight Radar 24 or something like that on our smartphone, but it doesn't mean that SAM operators are using it.

Iran are claiming their comms were jammed.

https://twitter.com/statuses/1215946884604407808

Iran are claiming their comms were jammed.

 

https://twitter.com/statuses/1215946884604407808

I don't want to enter into politics as BIGNEWY said, but Iranian authorities lied so much already about that disaster that it's hard to give credit to their explanations.

Just thinking about it, since USA didn't retaliate to the last Iranian strike, and it was very soon after Iranian missiles launch, what or who could have caused the Iranian SAM defense network jamming ?

The flight radar report shows a normal departure trajectory.

Tragic. Sounds like gross incompetence from both the SA-15 operator and the Iranian government for not closing down the airspace for the time being when they knew their air defense systems would be on alert.

I don't want to enter into politics as BIGNEWY said, but Iranian authorities lied so much already about that disaster that it's hard to give credit to their explanations.

 

Just thinking about it, since USA didn't retaliate to the last Iranian strike, and it was very soon after Iranian missiles launch, what or who could have caused the Iranian SAM defense network jamming ?

 

The flight radar report shows a normal departure trajectory.

That could be a translation issue, I read elsewhere that it wasn't jamming but he simply couldn't reach a higher authority in time.

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Extremely sad news, and I am personally appalled.

I have learnt a new English word which describes very well the way I feel about this accident, too.

On the technical side, I’ve heard at the newscast that two missiles were shot and that the first one missed the target. I find this quite weird because the target was big, little maneuvrable, subsonic and it wasn’t even trying to evade the missile.

My wife's friend lost her only child and husband on this flight. Its tragic that this continues to happen.

Hmmm... They said they thought it was a cruise missile.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/11/world/middleeast/plane-crash.html

It strikes me as odd that a 70m long plane with a 60m wingspan was mistaken for a 5m long cruise missile and why would a cruise missile need two SAM hits to bring it down?

So many questions, don't the SAM operators communicate with air traffic control or at least have knowledge of scheduled flights? Do they not have radars that can distinguish between objects of entirely different sizes and shapes?

why would a cruise missile need two SAM hits to bring it down?

You fire two in case the first one misses the target. At short ranges you don't necessarily have the time to re-engage if your first missile doesn't hit.

https://en.radiofarda.com/a/iran-military-suggests-us-disruption-of-radar-caused-the-downing-of-airliner/30378185.html

Iran Military Suggests US Disruption Of Radar Caused Downing Of Airliner Despite New Video

First they said it was comms jamming.