Thread: Ukrainian airliner crashes near Tehran: Iranian media

Call me a parotid, skeptic, but as someone posted, lots of planes took off from that airport, the Ukraine plane was delayed by and hour, which other plane was in that time slot. Planes have transponders that identify them, kind of hard to miss. Missile may have locked on to the wrong plane.

Originally Posted by jamescollister

Call me a parotid, skeptic, but as someone posted, lots of planes took off from that airport, the Ukraine plane was delayed by and hour, which other plane was in that time slot. Planes have transponders that identify them, kind of hard to miss. Missile may have locked on to the wrong plane.

call me paranoid too, but how difficult would it be for the Pentagon/CIA to shutdown that transponder remotely? and lead the Iranians to make such a blatant mistake? not saying the Iranians are not incompetent either, the Americans surely are for striking their own troops which all identifications transponders of their own

Apologies for copying and pasting this post from a blog comment

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There’s something about this incident that leaves me wanting. I just can’t shoehorn the following items together logically, taking them at face value.
1: The Washington Post had this:
— nor did Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization close the airspace over the country. At least three other aircraft were in flight near Tehran at the time of the downing, according to civil aviation monitors.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl…...outputType=amp
Then there’s this:


There were 10 departures from Tehran-IKA from midnight local time 8 Jan through the departure of PS752 at 06:12 LT. Prior to PS752, the last flight movement at IKA was the departure of QR8408 at 05:39 local time.


Page not found | Flightradar24 Blog
Now, to Moon of Alabama in a piece from yesterday. (b’s commentary)
“What I find inexplicable is that the crew of Tor M-1 air defense system did not really consider that the Tehran airport was operating and that civil traffic was likely. More than ten planes had already taken off before the Ukrainian flight took to the air. The accident happened shortly after 6:00 am local time. Pure speculation: I suspect that a crew change had happened at 6:00 am and that the overnight crew did not really brief the one taking over.”


MoA - Iranian Armed Forces Say They Inadvertently Shot Down The Ukrainian Plane - Updated

Okay, now try to fit the pieces together. Apparently 3 other planes are flying in the area at the time. A plane had taken off from Teheran airport 30 minutes prior to the Ukrainian plane.
First off, those 3 other planes were not fired on by this or any other missile battery. Obviously Iranian airspace was not closed down.
Secondly, why did not this particular missile battery not fire at the plane that had taken off 30 minutes prior? Different crew, as ‘b’ speculates?

It being a different crew doesn’t really explain this away. Not being fully briefed as ‘b’ suggests? How long does it take to say that the airport is open and not to shoot the planes down?

For me, tragic accident doesn’t explain this. Gross incompetence doesn’t do it, either. I’m left with this crew (not the Iranian government or military) intended to shoot the plane down to give Iran a black eye.


Whether I’m right or wrong, the effect is the same. It’s a PR nightmare that will have far-reaching effects. Not only in world opinion, but how about the Axis’ planned unified effort to oust the hegemon from the region? Will some get cold feet now? If this was a case of a planted rat within the ranks, how far of a reach do these people have?

Iran’s statements notwithstanding (what else could it do?), and though I hope I’m wrong, I smell a rat.