I have considered the KAL-007. The fact of the matter is that only about 1000 items of debris were recovered from the wreckage field and the FDR and CVR were never recovered - so I think that we cannot conclude where the missile struck the plane.
Admittedly it did take the 747 a little over 12 minutes to disappear from radar from a height of 35,000 speaks volumes about the amount of control the pilot had.
The missile carried around 70lbs of explosives, enough I would think for the engine to be completely destroyed and substantial wing damage affecting the control a lot more than the transponder recordings show.
Pure specualtion, I know, feel free to 'help' me with my interpretation.
Still, it does seem highly improbabal that the A/C pack is hotter than an engine. If the missile did strike the engine, then I would have thought with number 4 engine being furthest from the fuselage, it would have had the coolest background -therefore the hottest signature,for the missile to aim for and not number 3.
I am a little dubious over the KAL-007 shooting. I do not want to believe the hype and say it didn't happen, but a lot of things in the ICAO report do not add up.
: DD :
[ 01 August 2001: Message edited by: Den_Dennis ]