Greek 737 Being Intercepted by F-16's
 

Here are a few pics of the ill-fated 737-300 belonging to Helios. They were taken from the F-16's that intercepted it, and followed it until impact.


[IMG]http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a95...k/image003.jpg[/IMG]


[IMG]http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a95...k/image002.jpg[/IMG]


[IMG]http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a95...k/image005.jpg[/IMG]


[IMG]http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a95...k/image006.jpg[/IMG]


[IMG]http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a95...k/image004.jpg[/IMG]

Can't see your pictures but if they are the one's I think they are you have one small problem. The plane that crashed was a B733 and those pictures show a B738:confused: :confused:

Dont see any pics either......please try again IRP.

Edited to add:
Saw on another forum that they were talking about the pictures which actually show a B737-800 and the fighter was probably from the Singaporean Airforce. Somebody playing around with Photoshop it seems.........

O well, guess it might be prank pics, however I was under the impression that the 738 had winglets....?? Excuse my ignorance.

Ps: If these are fake pics, question SAA safety Dept as to where THEY got them....They of all folks should know the difference between the 733/738

Saw the pics now. Tks. Cant say if its an -800, but have a look at this -800 from Ryanair. (courtesy of airliners.net)Plenty airlines flying aircraft around without winglets.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...YRB737-8AS.jpg

Fairy Nuff.... Difficult to be sure, but it seems as if the Ryanair a/c is a bit longer no??

Come on skygods, help us out here.

The aircraft which crashed was 5B-DBY .. a Boeing 737-31S.

Definitely a 300 series, as per these pics of the port side. The 800 may or may not have winglets depending on operator choice, but the big give away is that it would have two overwing emergency exits if it was a 800.

The other comment about them being Singaporean F16s is also way off the mark. The F16 definitely has Greek markings on it (blue/white/blue flag on tail and wing) including the serial number 140 which is carried by a Greek aircraft. Singapore aircraft serials are in the 880+ range.

Some other comments I would have would be that the flaps seem down slightly. I suspect they would have been raised by the crew in the climb before the incident happened .... but did the cabin crew member who tried to control the aircraft lower them again ??

Plus the pilot of the number 2 F16 (being photographed) seems to be formating on his lead rather than on the 737. A bit silly to take your eyes off the aircraft which is most likely to do unexpected manouevres !! The pilot in the lead F16 (presumably taking the photos) can't be concentrating on his aircraft, his number 2, the 737, and operating a camera all at once !! (Unless it was a two seater).

Mmmm, the 'fakes' being discussed on the other site are different to the pictures posted here ... the mystery deepens :)

http://www.flightinternational.com/a...px?ItemID=9533

http://www.flightinternational.com/a...px?ItemID=9532

http://www.flightinternational.com/a...px?ItemID=9531

Notice how the cabin window configuration on the starboard side differs from that on the port in the pics at the top of this thread. Something now smelling fishy :ok:

Seems a bit curious as it shows the aircraft in a turn in one picture, then level in another..Was it not straight and level till it quit.

The first couple (don't know how many) B738's arrived in SA without winglets. The winglets where fitted later. Apparently gives about 4% fuel saving.

And please don't address me as skygod again, you puny insignificant mere mortal!!!! :D JOKE! Funny-haha!

You can't fly straight and level in a race track hold pattern which follows a missed approach ;)

The aircraft followed the FMS active route horizontally which involved an approach to one of the runways at Athens, then the missed approach procedure back to the holding facility where it stayed for quite some time.

The plot from Greek ATC radar is shown
here

Thanks for the flying lesson. Had no idea it was in a holding pattern. Thought it was flying point A to B....

To IRP.... Remember thou art mortal, remember thou art mortal, remember thou art mortal, remember thou art mortal

The pics in question are a 737-300. An 800 has two over wing exits whereas the -300 only has one. Winglets are a customer option as all of Ryanairs -800's are sans winglets. So by the look of things these pics look pretty genuine!!!!

Picture of the actual aircraft involved. Note the number of windows, plus what the emergency exit looks like when singular and not merely with one brushed out!

http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/4131/167084yo.jpg

Picture by T De Haan

How many F-16's were scrambeld? Two?

Does anyone notice that the weapons packeages do not match up on the aircraft.

In the first pic the aircraft is caryin one Sidewinder on the right tip and one Sparrow on the left tip, with another sidewinder under the left wing.

The next pic shows an aircraft with no visible missiles, but inportant to note is the colour of the missle on the wing tip of the aircraft taking the pic. In the previous shot it was a grey on now a blue one. Blue missiles are training rounds so the second photo was likely taken during an excercise.

In the fourth picture teh F-16 is carying a Sidewinder on the left tip, if we assume this was the aircraft in picture one (since the aircraft in picture two did not carry an ordanance on the left side) he must have used it or dropped it.

So clearly several shots of at least three or more f-16 here.

I was also looking at that, note also the red on the tip of the tail which is not on the other.

Yes, didn't see that, also notice the logo on the tail of the the F-16 in the fourth pic looks a little more like a blue shield with a white lightning flash through it. Though this could be just distortion.

Perhaps a pic of an American F-16. Do Greek F-16 have red tail tips?

The last shot is clearly an -800. Far too many windows, dual overwing exits and a 2-hole APU.

Someone good at Photoshop, but not so good at 737's.

Fake (but we could have guessed that!)

Looks a bit fishy....pic nr.4:
It that a ACMI pod or similar om station 7?

And in pic 2, the Aim-9 on station 9 looks like captive one, or am I seeing things.
Allso pic 2 looks arranged, with the 737 inserted in the background of a pic taken of an F-16 wingman with no ext. ordonance......

:uhoh:

The real photo from Airfleets.net shows 16 windows in front of the over-wing door and 16 windows behind it.

The last of the F-16 pics shows 22 windows behind the over-wing door and 18 in front of it.

The planes cannot be the same!