ABC News online
Posted: Mon, 2 Dec 2002 1:03 AEDT
Anti-missile technology may have saved Kenya flight: expert
Two shoulder-fired missiles, which nearly brought down an Israeli charter flight over Kenya, were probably deflected by detection technology onboard the Arkia plane.
Israeli strategy expert Hirsh Goodman says 10 years ago it was reported that all planes belonging to Israeli carrier El Al were equipped with anti-missile technology in response to a botched attack on a plane in the mid-1970s.
One of the deadliest anti-Israeli attacks ever was narrowly averted on Thursday when two Russian-made Strela missiles just missed a Boeing 757, which was carrying 261 Israeli tourists from Mombasa to Tel Aviv.
"I can't guarantee the Arkia plane was equipped with that technology but I don't believe in miracles," Mr Goodman said.
Captain Rafi Malek, the pilot of the targeted plane, said: "We saw two white stripes coming up behind the aircraft, slightly above it, and moving from the back to the front and then disappearing after a few seconds."
The pilot's statement appears to support Mr Goodman's theory that the missiles might have been deflected by some kind "heat sensing system", which detected and diverted them by firing flares.