Missiles fired at Russian plane with 159 passengers onboard flying over Syria

Update:

The targeted plane belongs to Nordwind Airlines – a Russian charter air carrier, says the Ministry of Transport. It was en route to the city of Kazan, in Russia’s republic of Tatarstan, from Egypt's resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh, reports RIA Novosti.

When the Airbus 320 passenger plane was flying over Syria, “the crew spotted signs of combat activities which, they believed, could pose a threat to the safety of the plane,” states Russia’s Transport Ministry, citing the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia).

...

Meanwhile, Syrian aviation authorities received no indication of the alleged attack on the Russian plane,says the director of Syrian Airlines, Ghaida Abdullatif:

“We contacted the service that monitors traffic within Syrian airspace. None of the air traffic control services or other ground services at the airports in Damascus and Latakia have confirmed the information of a Russian plane plane being fired at".

Source: rt.com...

That rules out being shot at while taking off or landing as it was en route back to Russia from Egypt and was probably flying at a high altitude.

Conflicting reports here. Not sure what to believe...

Missiles fired at Russian plane with 159 passengers onboard flying over Syria

Irony in the skies... recalling KAL-007.

If the Syrian Government did shot missiles at a Russian commercial plane,
of course they would vigorously deny it.
They don't want Russia to come in there and whop butt.

Yes you can shot down a airliner with a MANPAD like a SA-7 or stinger

On takeoff or landing as for A SA-6 SA-10 type SAM did the passengers or pilots see the missile

Did the pilots get a warning over the radio of a SAM launch

So if those two missiles missed, I'm assuming they landed somewhere and blew up, anyone know if a populated area was hit?

Originally posted by jhn7537
So if those two missiles missed, I'm assuming they landed somewhere and blew up, anyone know if a populated area was hit?

They probably blew up in mid air as they are designed to do and spray shrapnel to bring a aircraft down.

Update:

Two missiles were reportedly fired at a Russian planewith at least 159 passengers on board that was flying over Syrian territory. Russian aviation authorities admit the jet ‘faced danger’, but say it’s too early to talk of a targeted attack.

rt.com...

What do they mean by faced danger?

Operation Northwoods a la Kremlin anybody....

Russia has had spetnaz on the ground for a good while now...

Maybe they're looking to blame jihadist's in Syria, after all they have problems in the Caucuses with their own.

American funded rebel Al Qaedas of course.

Maybe the government doin the 'ole "false flag" waltz...to get russian help??

Who'd be stupid enough to goad the bear into confrontation and open a whole can a whoop ass on themselves...

Originally posted by ignorant_ape
even againsta a defenceless plane , an attack with SAMs is not " simply " a case of - hit " launch button " > plane destroyed

the condition , sutibility , crew training [ if any - if rebel forces ] all play a big factor

stolen / black market missiles might fail because they were mistreated - incorrectly preped or damaged

one previous response said " if couldnt be a MANPADS - as they cannot attain the altitude " - if the operator didnt know - they might attempt to fire one - and be surprised that it didnt attain altitude

another training related mistake possible - is firing at a aircraft thats only a few degrees away from the sun - missile attains lock on the sun - and homes in till its motors die

lastly - for conspiracy malarky - a come radar guided missiles need constant instruction from a groundstation - a crew attempting to create an incident - could fire off a salvo - then cut the guidance instructions

to actually form useful opinions on this we need far more info :

what type of missile
its condition and orign
crew training
etc etc etc

For an "ignorant ape" you know you sh|t!

When we find out at what height the plane was traveling when it reported the attack, then you have a fair idea of range.

We're not talking about RGP7's here.

Im somewhat confused by the term "the crew spotted signs of combat activities which, they believed, could pose a threat to the safety of the plane"

So they wern't actually shot at...just observed "combat activity" (??) which they believed could pose a threat...all a bit vague for me.....

Originally posted by truthinfact
Shooting at an Airplane with that many people on board is an Act of War.


Could you imagine if USA and Russia teamed together to fight Syria?



It would be over in 2 weeks. Tops.

It's too vague to say atm but do you really believe the "regime" would knowingly launch at a Russian airliner?
I don't simply because why would Assad or his supporters want to smack the big kid protecting them from the bullies who want to smash their skulls in? it would make no sense.

It is possible they would do it in a joint conspiracy with Russia, so that Russian forces can have the green light to come and kick some terrorist ass, or maybe it was terrorists (FSA).
It is even possible that the Syrian army thought it was about to be bombed by the Jews again and thought "hell no you little ...... have that"

At this moment though I think we should sit and wait to see how this unfurls and not jump to conclusions.

P.S. Many people thought that these "freedom fighters" would have handled taking this "regime" down relatively quickly... more than two years later though...

Putin was actually saying something about how misguided the West was for supporting and arming insurgents around the world (I believe he mentioned the Boston bombing being an example of how misguided we were in that regard), so I'm going to say it's the FSA rather than Syria.
And even if it's not they'll say it is and use it as an excuse to quell that problem before NATO comes in on the rebels side to impose a bit of regime change (which Russia really doesn't want).

Take heed folks,
For what better camouflage for a spy plane than a civilian airline.
Maybe it wasn't Russian at all?

Hmm,who could it be?

Update:

So far, there are no grounds to claim that the aircraft became a target of a missile attack, experts say.

It was flying over a mountainous area in Syria when one of the pilots noticed “flashes on the ground.” After that, to keep safe, it was decided to increase the height of the flight, Irina Tyurina, a spokeswoman for Russian Union of Tourist Industry told RIA Novosti

Source: rt.com...

OK. Now this is getting weirder and weirder. The crew report seeing flashes on the ground, so the pilots decide to climb higher for safety, yet it doesn't say how high they were cruising, and how they went. Wouldn't they have to radio this increase in altitude to air traffic control?

How high were the mountains? That would explain the difference between the ground and cruising altitude and maybe someone was able to get off some shots with a MANPAD.

Originally posted by jhn7537
Hmmmm... Something doesn't smell right here... Russian airline dodges not 1 but 2 missiles?? Fighter jets have a tough time evading missiles, but a large passenger Jet??? A false flag so Russia can get involved with the Syria situation??? Maybe....

I was thinking the same thing. Maybe both Russia and Syria decided to use a play out of the Western/NATO playbook so that Russia could have a reason to jump in and intervene before those other nations destroy Syria.

I'm sure many have read reports of rockets and mortars being fired into Turkey or other neighboring countries, which are all blamed on Assad and not the terrorists. As if they are looking for reasons to jump in and take Assad out. Assad is not stupid, hes been in power for decades and wouldn't do something that dumb when he knows the world wants to take him out.

But I also wouldn't pass it on those terrorist to do something like this either and shoot at the plane, probably testing out all the new toys they've been given...

Originally posted by CALGARIAN
It was probably US provided String-Rays or something, being shot by a "rebel".

Ummm, Stingray is a torpedo.

Yes Assad ordered the attack on the Russian airliner,although he had many aircraft at his disposal, he felt it would be fun target practice to use an few RPG's.Whats the point at striking Israel and Turkey for there direct involvement,he's already tried to lob mortars at them and there simply too scared, besides Syria doesn't need an ally like Russia anyway,Syria can take Russia and eveybody knows it.

Originally posted by truthinfact
Shooting at an Airplane with that many people on board is an Act of War.

Could you imagine if USA and Russia teamed together to fight Syria?

It would be over in 2 weeks. Tops.

Do you have any idea of who supports who in Syria?

The US have been happily supporting the terrorists there... I mean, when its the US supporting them, we rather call them "freedom fighters" or "the resistance movement" or "rebels". Russia has the spetz there, but if russia has to officially support anyone they will support Assad, you know, the Government.

That would mean a tight lock for the US that wants to get into Syria since well, the terrorists havent been doing their homework right to say the least - the old saying goes "if you want something done, do it yourself", and the US is getting tired of their failed little proxy crap spending money and equipment on incompetent people specially when they're facing a well equipped army sponsored by russia and their spetz. So Russia will get in there before the US does, therefore becoming impossible for the US to get in there.

Regardless... The US is being careless... I think the other players are forcing the US to stretch, forcing it to be in a lot of places at the same time, and well... someone else is now playing the music and the US is the one dancing,... and stretching.

Well... who said the cold war was over anyway? Civilians believe what they are told to believe...

Originally posted by all2human
Yes Assad ordered the attack on the Russian airliner,although he had many aircraft at his disposal, he felt it would be fun target practice to use an few RPG's.Whats the point at striking Israel and Turkey for there direct involvement,he's already tried to lob mortars at them and there simply too scared, besides Syria doesn't need an ally like Russia anyway,Syria can take Russia and eveybody knows it.

An RPG? To hit an airliner? What...?

Syria doesnt need Russia as an ally?

What are you talking about, creature?!

It would take an awful lot of proof for the Russians to buy this was Assad's forces. Factions within the FSA have openly threatened commercial flights and I recon they would sooner point the finger at these Western funded Jihadists than Assad. Hell they'd probably call it payback for Russia's list of war criminals, banning adoption by Americans and the recent row over lobby groups protecting US interests in Russia. Lots of tension between the old super-powers of late, and everyone knows Al-Qaeda does the US's dirty work, even in Syria. Don't be surprised if Russia points the finger squarely at the US on this one.