Lurker > TheShadowViper

That's actually a good one, probably go with the musical ability. I'm sure it would bring more happiness and you could make a living off it should you choose to.

TheShadowViper posted...

It isn't a stretch at all. It was a Ukrainian airline leaving an airport in the heart of Tehran hours after a ballistic missile strike. Contact was lost with the pilot well before the crash (suggesting incapacitation by an explosion), the plane was on fire as it descended, and engine fires are incredibly rare and numerous countermeasures exist for pilots to combat them.

Told you.

meralonne posted...

They mistook one commercial passenger jet for an enemy fighter? One? Seriously?

Im not saying that the Iranians didnt fuck up here, I dont know. But this notion is a bit of a stretch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhokJrURsBE

It isn't a stretch at all. It was a Ukrainian airline leaving an airport in the heart of Tehran hours after a ballistic missile strike. Contact was lost with the pilot well before the crash (suggesting incapacitation by an explosion), the plane was on fire as it descended, and engine fires are incredibly rare and numerous countermeasures exist for pilots to combat them.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travel-truths/how-dangerous-are-plane-engine-fires/

According to a Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) study of all fatal plane accidents between 2002 and 2011, engine fire was a primary factor in just two of 250 crashes, and a casual factor in only six more.

So, Iran wants us to believe that it was an engine fire that caused this accident, in a relatively new plane with an experienced crew. I find that much harder to believe than a plane getting shot down within hours of a major military operation in Iran's capital. It may very well be "mechical failure" that occurred (that was not the result of a missile), but acting like it being shot down is unlikely given the facts is simply wrong.

A) How many Iranians were on board is irrelevant. No one is saying they shot the plane down on purpose.

B) Iranian anti-air defenses would be on high alert post-ballistic missile launch. This means itchy trigger fingers. The plane crashed in the heart of Tehran.

C) Communication with the pilot was abruptly cut off. This, in combination with the fireball like descent of the plane, means the flight crew was likely incapacitated by an explosion.

D) It is not inconceivable that Iranian anti-air defenses failed to properly identify the aircraft and shot it down.

E) Why you would lie about it? Because it isn't a good look regardless of how you try to rationalize it. Either they shot down the plane intentionally, or incompetently shot down a plane leaving one of their main airports at a great loss of life.