MH17 down near Donetsk
 

Just being reported by news agencies that a Malaysian airliner has crashed near the Ukraine/Russian border.

On bbc news at the moment. 777 with 229 pax 15 crew.
Not good at all.

This was flight MH017 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. 250 passengers and 15 crew members. Very very sad. It disappeared from radar at Russia Ukraine border near the city of Rostov on Don. Registration is 9M-MRD a Boeing 777-200

Is it a coincidence that the Russians shot down a Ukranian fighter a few hours earlier?

There was a ukranian military cargo aircraft shot down a few days ago at 6,500m..then the fighter earlier today?.....now this at 10,000m. Must be connected. Right in the middle of the conflict area.

Malaysian
 

If true - this is a huge game changer in that conflict and desperately sad for all involved. I can't see a hand held getting to FL33 which makes it look military rather than militant.

There is a notam at the moment whenever I look at routes on Skydemon warning about the airspace on that border. Is this within that area and are most carriers avoiding the area as a matter of course?

There aren't too many missiles that will hit an airliner at cruise altitude. Certainly not the average MANPAD that a rebel group would have.

It has to be a large SAM with associated ground support and guidance equipment, usually government military run.

News here saying at-altitude incident - with a descent - then a bunch of taking heads are saying a missile strike @ 21000ft. Military analyst on TV news saying this was likely shot down.

oh no: MAS confirms lost contact - https://twitter.com/MAS/status/489795857101750272

SAMs certainly do go up to FL330 and higher.

It most certainly does. And much higher.

suspected video of crashsite (from distance, UNCONFIRMED)
 

Now there are reports of the BUK missile system being installed recently and the altitude that it was taken down from was 31000. Apparently there were several incidents in the last week with military planes in Ukraine having been shot down.

Buk missile system target engagement zone for an aircraft:

altitude – 15 м – 25 km
range – 3 km – 42 km

Another MH 777 down over Ukraine
 

Another MH 777 has just been lost over eastern Ukraine. It fell in the contested eastern part of Ukraine, where fighting has been going on and near where an Ukrainian military aircraft was downed recently.

Speculations have started about a SAM missile strike, possibly launched by the separatists rebels, themselves militarily backed by Russia.
I have a feeling this will escalate politically very quickly.

It is a tragic stint of bad luck for MH. RIP to all lost.

I was wondering why our routing from London had us fly North over Denmark rather than the usual central European route over Ukraine the other day... I guess no one tipped MH?

Grab yourself a beer, this is about to get interesting.

2 777 hull losses in 12months....gruesome.

sad
 

Wonder if NATO had any active AWACS monitoring the space during the incident. Would be interesting to see, if they did, what kind of data shows up.

on Flightradar24 the skys are busy over the Ukraine at the moment. Its likely that any NOTAM published regarding the conflict has not been robust enough to prevent civilian Airlines giving the entire area a wide birth. Terrible tragedy for any airline, but particularly devestating for MAS.

Heres is link to video just uploaded.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/...e-MH17-crashes

Video of alleged crash sight of Malaysian Boeing in Shakhyorsk, Ukraine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=JhUkqs9CQ0w

Right, and that data will be completely objective and not manipulated?

I was just watching CNN. :yuk: The wreckage hasn't even been found yet but the main stream propaganda media is already pointing the finger to Russia. :=

All 295 people aboard #MH17 from Amsterdam killed after being hit by Buk missle, a Ukrainian interior ministry official was quoted as saying by Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

I wouldn't trust any media out of Ukraine at the present...too many political agendas circulating to give them credibility. Same with Russia.

As far as AWACS data is concerned, you'd hope that it would at least an indicator of the events that transpired.

This has just been posted on Twitter by Chris Martinez from CBS News.

Also the flight plan.

(FPL-MAS17-IS
-B772/H-SDFGHIJ3J5M1RWXY/LB1D1
-EHAM1000
-N0490F310 ARNEM UL620 SUVOX UZ713 OSN UL980 MOBSA DCT POVEL DCT SUI L980 UTOLU/N0490F330 L980 LDZ M70 BEMBI L980 PEKIT/N0480F350 L980 TAMAK/N0480F350 A87 TIROM/N0490F350 A87 MAMED B449 RANAH L750 ZB G201 BI DCT MURLI DCT TIGER/N0490F370 L333 KKJ L759 PUT R325 VIH A464 DAKUS DCT
-WMKK1137 WMSA WMKP
-EET/EDGG0017 EDWW0023 EDUU0036 EPWW0052 UKLV0135 UKBV0153 UKDV0225 URRV0255 UATT0347 UTAK0411 UTAA0432 UTAV0507 OAKX0518 OPLR0601 OPKR0616 VIDF0631 VABF0725 VECF0747 VYYF0926 VOMF0930 VTBB1013 WMFC1051 REG/9MMRD PBN/A1B1C1D1L1O1S2 SEL/QREJ DOF/140717 RMK/ACASII EQUIPPED)

The only way the Ukrainian can know the type of missile is if it's one of theirs... :ooh:

In October 2001 the Ukrainians shot down Siberian Airlines flt 1812 when an air defense exercise went wrong. 78 dead.

Would have been packed with Malaysian students returning home for the Eid Ul Fitr festival at the end of the academic year. :(

LHR,

IMHO, that wreckage pic looks like from the previous AN26 shoot down from a couple days ago.

Post #58: That looks like a tail section, APU and elevator to me...

MH 17
 

At 33000' altitude a missile aircraft hit by a missile would cause it to breakup in all probably. Esp since explosive decompression cant be ruled out. Smoke rising looks like a single point of impact. A Buk SAM has a max altitude of about 46000'... RIP poor souls.

I agree, does not look like a 777.

@rjamesjones on Twitter:

On rebel commander Strelkov's page "We warned you not to fly in our sky." He
thought they'd shot a Ukrainian plane.

vk.com/strelkov_info

I too agree
 

Looks like and APU of Antonov and the engine cowling is visible too

ATPMBA .

Look up IR655 . Just in case .

Another MH 777 down over Ukraine
 

Jesus, if its an inadvertent shoot down by rebel forces of all the airlines it could have happened to.

From USAToday:

the plane was flying at an altitude of 33,000 feet when it was hit Thursday by a missile fired from a Buk launcher, the Associated Press reports.
BUK, also known as SA-17 GRIZZLY, is a mobile anti-aircraft system mounted usually on a tracked vehicle or truck that can simultaneously track and strike six targets flying from different directions and at different altitudes, according to military thinktank Globalsecurity.org.

A similar launcher was seen by AP journalists near the eastern Ukrainian town of Snizhne earlier Thursday.

All the talk about closed airways and declared war zone etc. etc. What do the NOTAMS say? Which ATC was controlling this flight? Were they in radio contact? Was a MayDay put out? Were there any other a/c on the same route? What's happened to the route now? Why was it open if the skies had been proved dangerous in the previous days?
The military boys might be able to tell us what level of identification is needed for a ground launch to an airborne target? If the a/c was squawking a civilian transponder code, and on a filed flight plan, and if it was VMC it should have been identifiable as civilian. Someone with lots of pips on their shoulder must have given the fire order. How many aggressive military large twin engined a/c are there?
After the US carrier shot down the civilian by the Italian coast, their mitigating circumstances was it seemed it was on an aggressive flight profile. This one was high-level straight & level.
Lots of questions; no answers, yet. Perhaps the first person to fall on their sword will give us a clue.

Image out there, unconfirmed but still:

http://i.imgur.com/5cnNq2R.jpg

Sad to say images of bodies are also doing the rounds on twitter. Sickening. No more 'social' media for me today.

BREAKING Boing777 Of #Malaysian Airlines Shot Down In Shakhtersk Donetsk Oblast Ukraine July17 - YouTube


Further YouTube upload with subtitles - '....you can see parts falling..... it was hit and broke into two....'

From BBC Live Updates:

"17:14:
A Reuters reporter has reached the scene and has described seeing burning wreckage of the airplane, with bodies on the ground, the agency reports."