[Newsbot]

Title: Egypt: Russian plane crashes in Sinai Peninsula
Category: World
Posted By: N_Fiddledog
Date: 2015-10-31 11:40:16

[N_Fiddledog]

And, of course:

Islamic State claims responsibility for Russian plane crash in Egypt.

However:

$1:

The claim of responsibility seems almost as far-fetched. The plane had reached a cruising altitude of 31,000 feet, above the altitude where hand-held SAMs can work. Terrorist groups in the Sinai are not known to have larger anti-aircraft systems, such as the Buk system used by Russian-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine to shoot down a Malaysian Air flight. It's possible that they have that technology, but the circumstances and the earlier complaint about mechanical trouble in the aircraft make equipment failure a much more likely cause.

http://hotair.com/archives/2015/10/31/v ... -224-dead/

[xerxes]

Smart play ISIS. Make grieving Russians mad. <slow clap>

[Thanos]

Word is that ISIS doesn't (yet) have the type of launchers that can reach the altitude the jet was at, not the kind that the Russians themselves used to knock down that Malaysian plane over Ukraine. They're restricted at the moment with shoulder-launched missiles for use against helicopters and low-flying attack planes. Be interesting though to see if Putin uses a Russian airline company's abysmal lack of maintenance and quality control as a pretext to pour his entire military into the Middle East. Let them. If they wipe out ISIS and at the same time end up bleeding from a million cuts themselves then it's all for the better.

[ShepherdsDog]

There are other groups of sand bandits in the Sinai....Moslem Brotherhood types. While I don't doubt Russian 'engineering' may be the reason the plane disintegrated, it's possible that someone got their hands on some armaments....look at all the shit the American armed and supplied terrorists were surrendering to their friends. Then there is always their other patrons the Saudis and Emirates, who have all sorts of toys and cash that they are supplying ISIL with.

i still hold that Assad is the lesser of the evils over there, and that we should be backing him in restoring order. The Assads at least protected the rights of women and minorities, and promoted a secular society with a prosperous and educated middle class, which is better than any of his foes/alternatives.

[DrCaleb]

ShepherdsDog ShepherdsDog:

While I don't doubt Russian 'engineering' may be the reason the plane disintegrated, it's possible that someone got their hands on some armaments..

Scuttlebut is that this aircraft was in an incident years ago that cause massive damage to the tail section, and the tail had to be replaced. In the crash video, you can see the plane fuselage crashed, and the tail section several kilometers away.

It's not rocket surgery.

[andyt]

$1:

Russian plane crash: airline claims 'external impact on plane' caused disaster - latest news

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... liner.html

[Thanos]

It a contest between liars as accomplished as both Russia and ISIS it's pointless to try to figure out the truth. Putin has his Gulf of Tonkin pretext now. Events will take their own course from now on in.

[DrCaleb]

Thanos Thanos:

It a contest between liars as accomplished as both Russia and ISIS it's pointless to try to figure out the truth. Putin has his Gulf of Tonkin pretext now. Events will take their own course from now on in.

^^ This.

Still reading that no group in the area is thought to posses, or have the ability to use, any missile system capable of reaching that altitude.

[Lemmy]

What about the Ukrainians? No one ever suspects the Ukrainians.

[BartSimpson]

Karma is a bitch. Russia shoots down an airliner and Fate shoots down a Russian airliner.

Balance in the universe is restored.

[DrCaleb]

Reports now that it might have been a bomb.

[andyt]

IT has to have been something like that. Even with shoddy maintenance, planes don't just disintegrate in midair. There was that plane in Hawaii that had the roof sheared off and still managed to land. Minus a few passengers/crew of course.

[BartSimpson]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

Reports now that it might have been a bomb.

Shoddy maintenance is still the more likely culprit.

[DanSC]

Decompression due to previous tail-strike damage is a likely scenario, but I haven't spoken to anyone involved, so I have no informed information.

However, the Flight Safety Foundation is currently holding their annual conference in Miami, so if you want to know more, go there.

If it was a bomb, the investigators would know by now; there would be plenty of explosive residue. If the Russians and the Egyptians would release that information is another question.