Originally Posted by
Lord Farringdon
The Iranians had just fired a bunch of ballistic missiles at US air bases in Iraq. What would you as an Iranian commander in the field think will happen next? Nothing? A strongly worded phone call to the Ayatollah from Trump? Or a US air strike on the airfield you are protecting? Poor communication would play a part along with poor training, poor leadership, tension and expectation if this accident ultimately proves to be a shoot down miscalculation.
Especially as this aircraft was apparently about an hour behind schedule. Perhaps there weren't supposed to be any aircraft operating from the airport at that time (I guess someone here would know?) - the SAM unit wouldn't necessarily be tied in to the civil ATC or monitoring their freqs, let alone be actively talking to them on the 'phone or radio.