More quality journalism.
 

It seems that the continual inability of news reporters to even get something as fundamental as an aircraft type right, Cessna/jabiru, has now extended to delusions of expert commentary on the vulnerability of aircraft to attack by surface to air missiles.

Yesterday on ABC news 24 the female presenter commented that overflights of Iraq by QANTAS are safe because they fly at altitudes of up to 40 thousand feet. She made the sage observation that there is an enormous difference between 33 thousand feet and the higher levels that QANTAS operate at!

54 years ago Francis Gary Powers, flying a U2 spy plane was shot down over the former Soviet Union by an SA-2 Guideline missile. He was operating at an altitude of up to 65 thousand feet!

No air breathing aircraft is safe from these threats.

Lady, You are an idiot!

Reading the posts about MH17, the older BUK missiles were capable of 42,000ft. Newer ones to 70K plus.

One Blackbird collected a very small piece of shrapnel in 1967 over Hanoi from an SA-2 (at least eight were fired at him) at some 80,000 feet. Only time one was hit.Quite correct.

More quality journalism.
 

To be specific that would have been an A-12 Oxcart...

But yeah, below 10,000 and ground-based guns can get you, anywhere in the atmosphere missiles can get you.

Even in low earth orbit, missiles can get you if a sufficiently resourced adversary wants you gone badly enough.

Anti-satellite weapon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Aircraft go by many names, Oxcart was the CIA program to developed the A-12, and the aircraft did go by that name in some quarters. The 71 was a USAF development based on the A-12, that is they converted it from single seat to two. Both aircraft went by the name Habu, and Blackbird because of the colour.

Just more quality journalism.

I think Richard Branson may have to rethink his flights too.....those damn Russians(sorry...Ukranians) could spoil his day.