MH17 flight path anomaly explained -MH17 was shot down while flying toward the Ukraine-Russian border

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

The diagram above and the  following  extract from the Dutch Government's MH17 crash investigation report may explain a question raised on a related blog in 2014, which was concerned with why MH17 alone was shot down but not the other planes that flew that route: 

The clearance direct to air navigation waypoint RND was acknowledged by the flight crew (of MH 17)at 13.19:56 (15.19:56 CET). This was the last radio transmission from flight MH17. Dnipro Radar immediately, at 13.20:00 (15.20:00 CET), advised flight MH17 to proceed to expect a clearance direct to waypoint TIKNA after RND. TIKNA is an air navigation waypoint in the Russian Federation located on airway A87. According to the air traffic control flight plan, flight MH17 had planned to use airway A87 after crossing the Ukrainian/Russian Federation border. No acknowledgement or further radio communication from flight MH17 was received.

To Be Read WIth

MH17:Statistics suggest an anomaly that needs to be investigated,and explained-That SQ 351 survived unscathed suggests an anomaly in MH 17's flight path 

While Malaysian authorities have rightly argued that MAS is not alone in flying that route over Ukraine, the statistics displayed below suggest  the  question that  should be asked is  why only MH 17 was shot down.

The diagram below is of airlines and their aircraft that transited that route in the week before the incident. 

As the diagram shows, there were almost twice as many Aeroflot flights on that route as there were MAS flights.

Singapore Airlines is the next most frequent.

The question then , what was it that made MH 17 stand out from the rest? Did this reported diversion from the norm trigger the  BUK's target acquisition  system?

A total of six targets can be engaged simultaneously by a BUK  battery while they are flying on different bearings and at different altitudes and ranges. A typical battery comprises a Command Post (CP) vehicle, a Target Acquisition Radar (TAR) vehicle and six Self-Propelled Mounts (SPMs) that act as the launcher vehicles. A specialist Loader-Launcher (LL) vehicle that acts both as missile transloader and additional launch unit supports pair of launchers.

(see http://www.janes.com/article/40907/missile-profile-9k37-buk)

Given that SQ 351 was just 25 km  behind MH 17,and given that MH 17 was reported be in the "safe" altitude zone, one must ask how and why   SQ 351 came through unscathed but MH 17 did not.

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Posted 21st July 2014 by Ganesh Sahathevan

Labels: Malaysian Airlines MH17 Russia Ukraine