The Ukrainian authorities closed all heights over occupied territory the same day in the evening. Do you suppose that in such situation authorities in other countries would be more swift?
Perhaps, but it would be useless to speculate about what other countries might do or might have done. We're talking here about the situation in the Ukraine in July 2014.
Fact is that the airspace was closed way too late. Fact is also that the 30000 feet limit was totally unrealistic, unless of course one deliberately wants civil airlines to overfly an area of conflict to act as human shields for military operations <30000 feet. With the kind of weaponry and the military capabilities of both the Ukraine and Russia, it was only a matter of time before an escalation like this would occur.
My question remains: what were the Ukrainian political, tactical, strategical and perhaps economical (overflight fees) motivations behind keeping the airspace >30000 feet open for way too long?
Again, I'm absolutely not rushing to the Don-bass separatist's or the Russian's defense here, but I'm merely wondering what has led to this tragedy and in how far the safety of civil aviation has been compromised in order to push a military, geopolitical and propaganda agenda.
Grainy satellite images of a destroyed BUK, movements of a truck with a low-loader, claims of how rapidly the Ukraine closed the airspace
after the downing of MH17 or any other propaganda from either side does not help civil aviation pilots who overfly conflict areas. As a pilot I'm very worried that this investigation will solely be used for propaganda purposes and only focuses on "who-dun-nit" instead of the entire political and military constellation that made this possible.
Let's be honest, neither the passengers of MH17, nor the pro-Russian separatists in the Eastern Ukraine have benefited from this tragedy. The only winner is the government in Kiev (
who conveniently started a ground offensive in the confusion after the downing of MH17) thanks to the, in my opinion, criminal negligence of the Ukrainian authorities to keep the airspace >30000 open for civil use.
The Ukrainian authorities closed all heights over occupied territory the same day in the evening.
Obviously...
