Only an hour or so ago, a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 has been confirmed to of crashed in eastern Ukraine killing all 295 passengers and crew on-board. This comes only months after MH370, another 777 operated by the same airline, went missing shortly after take-off.

 

There is a strong possibility that the aircraft was shot-down, but no-one is claiming responsibility as of yet.

 

http://www.smh.com.au/world/malaysia-airlines-plane-crashes-in-east-ukraine-near-russian-border-reports-20140718-zu9p2.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/17/malaysia-airlines-plane-cras_n_5595516.html

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/07/17/malaysia-airlines-jet-reportedly-crashes-in-ukraine/

 

Thoughts?

Sky News are saying Russian media were reporting that Russian backed Ukrainian separatists were boasting of shooting down a Ukranian transport plane over the same area shortly before the reports of MH17 crashed.  According to Sky News, these reports have since "disappeared from Russian media".

Just what I want to hear before I go to work.... (airline pilot)

My thoughts and prayers are with the families of those lost; I can't even imagine their grief and I hope my loved ones never have to experience it. At least the chances of being shot down in the US are a bit lower than over Ukraine.

I suspect this will mean the end of Malaysian Airlines as well...

These attacks on aircraft over Eastern Ukraine aren't uncommon. Several helicopters and (If I remember), 2 military planes have been shot down by separatists in the past month since fighting intensified. An AN-26 transport plane was shot down recently using a modern AA missile. Here is a link to the story (Contains graphic images):

https://news.vice.com/article/downed-planes-and-burnt-corpses-in-eastern-ukraine

 

This missing MH plane may be the result of separatists misidentifying a plane for a military one and shooting it down in a similar way to previous ones.  

They're not even sure where exactly the SAM cam from. If it came from Ukraine, then the world knows that the Government cannot handle these rebels anymore and the situation needs outside intervention. If it came from Russia... God help us.

 

I just wish the U.S. would stay the hell out of this. 

Just saw on CNN the Russian government is now confirming the plane was shot down by separatists.

It's a shame when innocents get involved into any war.

The same thing is happening right now on the Gaza Strip, with Israel bombing the hell out of it, killing innocent men, women and children, hospitals and people just playing football on the beach.

Regardless of what side did this, be it Ukraine or Russia, let's not forget this happens all over the world, and is happening in other places right now. It just shows that Ukraine or Russia is no better than the US or Israel.

Just throwing this out there, but why the hell would any Airline plan a flight path through Ukraine?? What the hell? Knowing very well both sides have AA abilities, and there's been no shortage of aircraft being shot down, they still plan to fly through it... I'm sorry, but that's ignorance on the Airlines part. It's a sad thing when civilians are casualties in a war, like Jay said, but this could have been prevented.

IATA has deemed the flight path that Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 took was safe.

MH21, another Malaysia airlines flight, has fully be re diverted to a new flight path to avoid the Ukrainian Air Space.

France has now ordered all their airlines to avoid the air space and re route their flights.

It is not confirmed which weapon system was used. But it is said that it's a Russian missile system.

23 Americans is said to be on board the flight. And 5 French people as well.

The aircraft had 280 passengers and 15 crew on board. No survivors.

Edited July 17, 201411 yr by ASTTrprDillon95

This is sad. Like other people said above, why would they fly across that area if some military helicopters and planes were shot down just within the month. I'm not blaming anyone yet but what a coincidence... Malaysian Airlines again..?

Latest updates, as of typing this

-Passengers' nationalities: 154 Dutch, 27 Australian, 23 Malaysian, 11 Indonesian, 6 British, 4 German, 4 Belgian, 3 Philippine, 1 Canadian, 47 currently unknown.

-At least 1 black box found, separatists ready to hand it over to Moscow

-bodies found in a 15km radius around the crash site

-Ukraine blaming separatists, Russia blaming Ukraine, separatists deny everything

-apparently, separatists made a call to Russian intelligence services that they "accidentally shot down a commercial airliner"

 

( source [in Dutch]: http://www.nu.nl/vliegramp-oekraine/3830706/zeker-154-nederlanders-omgekomen-bij-vliegramp-in-oekraine.html )

It's all over Australian Media right now and there is talk that Australia may be massing troops for intervention, our Prime Minister has apparently started meeting with has cabinet members to make a decision. My brother is also in the Army and called home this morning and he was very different and knew something was going on but wouldn't say what exactly.

It's a shame this happened. May all the victims RIP.

 

Edit: I thought it was the other MA Plane that went missing a few months ago.

Edited July 18, 201411 yr by Sergiyj

Damn.. its always Malaysia Airlines

Damn.. its always Malaysia Airlines

 

 

Whilst it's true, Malaysian Airways has always been dodgy, this was just extremely unlucky to have happened to them. 

 

I'm really interested to see how the US will react to this event. They recently increased sanction on Russia and the next day or two, this happens. Hopefully it will lead to that fuck whit, Putin, to step down, hopefully. Really, the blood is on his hands. He was the one to supply those bloody rebels with these weapons.

 

RIP all who died.  

This is a very sad incident and I am still wrapping my head around it. I think it would be smart to put anti-missile countermeasures on planes when flying in dangerous or unstable areas. This may sound outrageous but FedEx puts them on their planes to protect from things like this happening. So far FedEx only puts them on their MD-11 and MD-10 aircraft while they are testing it for other aircraft. It is called the Northrop Grumman Guardian.

Edited July 18, 201411 yr by 1ian20

El Al has countermeasures as well, for the obvious reason.

What a tragedy, it's a shame that avoidable incidents such as these happen, daily.

 

Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind.

John F. Kennedy

 

And the best thing is that the West won't do anything besides putting new sanctions onto Russia.

Now, I am not saying that a military intervention from the NATO or UN would be a good move, but the Ukrainian government should get all help (financial, materiel, traning) it can get from the West, as it can't fight the Russian backed separatists effectively.

The death toll has now been raised to 298 people. 

 

The flight path MH17 followed was approved by international CAA and was not flying over restricted airspace, the aircraft was flying at cruising altitude (32,000ft) at the time it was hit by the missile. As a result of the attack, Air France, Turkish Airlines, Lufthansa and Thai Airlines have all re-routed flight paths to avoid Ukrainian airspace. The FAA has banned all US flights from entering eastern Ukrainian airspace.

 

http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/malaysia-airlines-plane-mh17-shot-down-on-ukrainerussia-border/story-fnizu68q-1226992889461

 

A firefighter standing in the burning wreckage of MH17.