Founder, ir's good to see you watched through that documentary and came out with such a commendably balanced view of events (!); and even if you are susceptible to believing a documentary contains all the facts it is as well to actually consider them all, and not just those that suit your particular preconcieved bias.
The navy ship wasn't even equipped with a radio that could communcate on the civilian frequencies
3/10 warnings were transmitted on the civilian emergency frequency
. Oh dear, do make up your mind! Maybe they didnt have a full civ VHF set, but can you explain a situation that the USN might have anticipated prior to this when one would have been necessary? Talking to airliners is hardly within the normal remit of the USN.
Calling on a mil freq is dumb, eh? Has it occurred to you
why they shot at that threat? Do you suppose it was because they thought it was an airbus? They'd have let an F15 come right over them, I suppose...Now thats dumb!
Why do you suppose they thought a civ a/c would use a mil freq? That didn't appear in the film, you've just imagined it. Rather why would they
not think that all civ a/c monitor guard? All mil a/c do, and I bet the USN are taught that all civvies do to. Well, they do, don't they??? Why did the airbus not have his wx radar on, that would undoubtably have saved his life. Why off route in a war zone? Not on guard in a war zone? Now thats dumb!
How could they tell the a/c who they were talkiing to, do you suppose they had his callsign? Wouldn't the USN, even in its dumbness, have guessed that an Iran Air c/s might not be military, or conversely that a civvy squawk might be? And how would that have clarified the situation?
No mate, your US bashing is way out of line. Those guys are highly trained Professionals doing a dangerous job utimately intended to save YOUR ass, so have as bit of compassion, and maybe a bit of gratitude too, (your airforce would probably be flying Dorniers or MiGs now not Saabs, if it wasn't for the likes of the "incompetent" people you're so cheerfully slagging off.)
it seems utterly unnecessary to repeat it, but they had limited seconds to make a 300-life critical decision, the capt wasn't stooging around a hold in a Seneca, remember: a decision not to endanger his ship was the correct one. It just happened to be incorrect.
I hate to think what you'd be smugly calling the dead Skipper and his crew with your awesome powers of hindsight if it had been an F15 with a civvy squawk and had sunk the ship...