Search results

The source of my understanding is not this article, which I provided for others, but my experience as a radar operator and graduate of the Army Air Defence school. I didn't misread anything. :)

Not quite... the target acquisition radar is used to designate the target and get the missile headed in the right direction, but once the missile is within a certain range - approximately 30km in the case of the SA-11 - then the missile's radar takes over and guides the missile to target...

International law, specifically ICAO Annex 13 Chapter 5, states that the country where the accident occurs is responsible for investigation. They can delegate it to Malaysia by mutual agreement; I don't know whether this has been discussed. Angus Houston is far from a clown or a fool, and I...

I think it's a natural human tendency (which I share), and does naturally affect the newsworthiness of a story for an Australian audience, but I think it's really important to be vigilant in remembering that this natural inclination has no ethical significance, and that Australian lives aren't...

It's not impossible anybody was conscious, but it's highly unlikely and no evidence has been provided which counters my previous explanation of the most likely scenario. Without rapid decompression, unconsciousness at that altitude takes approximately 20 to 30 seconds. But MH17 experienced a...

You're not wrong! It is a morbid discussion, but as in this instance it helps reduce people's horror at this tragic event, I hope that the sharing is acceptable. When I did aviation medicine training, they took us to very high altitude in a hypobaric chamber to experience what it's like, and...

Fortunately, I think it's doubtful. When climbing Everest you acclimate to the lower oxygen saturation over the weeks and months of the pre-climb preparation and during the slow climb. When exposed to that altitude suddenly, those accustomed to living at ground level would rapidly lose...

Only a few likely to have been killed by the missile itself, but remainder would have lost consciousness within a second or two, and are unlikely to have regained consciousness (thank goodness): http://qr.ae/FbJO0

You're right to be skeptical. The Buk is a semi-active radar-guided missile, and the guidance radar has both primary and secondary ("identification friend or foe" / "secondary surveillance radar") modes, so a well-trained and conscientious operator definitely has the capacity to identify a...

Live and learn! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedoms_of_the_air#Transit_rights

If they could see it. I seriously doubt they saw anything more than a dot, and even that's questionable.

There wouldn't have been any visual ID, and even if there was, it would look more like a much tinier version of this: How easily do you think they can identify the livery from that perspective?

What Crabnet said; there would have been absolutely no visuals. It's hard to distinguish two commercial airliners visually at a couple of thousand feet, let alone tens of thousands of feet. At that height, unless they're leaving contrails, you probably wouldn't even see there was an aircraft...