A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 with 295 people aboard crashed Thursday in Ukraine

near the Russian border after reportedly being hit by a missile, according to an adviser

to Ukraine's interior ministry.

Anton Gerashenko, the adviser, says on his Facebook page 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.

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

earlier Thursday. It was no immediately clear who would have been in control of such a

launcher in the restive area where Ukrainian forces are battling ethnic Russian separatists.

Malaysia Airlines said on Twitter that it "has lost contact of MH17 from Amsterdam.

The last known position was over Ukrainian airspace."

Russia's Interfax news agency, quoting an unidentified aviation source, said Malaysia Airlines

flies an Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur route that crosses Ukraine and Russian territory.

The unidentified source, according to Interfax, said the plane was 30 miles from Russian airspace 

when it began to go down. It said the burning wreckage of the plane was found on the ground in

Ukraine. The report, quoting the aviation source, says there were 280 passengers and

15 crew members aboard.

http://www.usatoday....ussia/12779763/

Shxxxxxxxxt

I switched the TV on this morning (channel 9) and the presenters in sombre tones kept talking about a plane being shot down. I thought please don't let it be the plane my wife is on. Anyway after what seemed like 5 minutes waiting to hear which flight and where, I looked to the computer for answers.

Its sad news again and my heart goes out to all aboard. I understand there were 27 Australians on board.

Just got a call. She arrived safely and the long delays were caused by typhoons.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTyzCeq77-A

Security Service of Ukraine: Terrorists Responsible for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 (TRANSLATED) 

Big Gorilla wrote:

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTyzCeq77-A

 

Security Service of Ukraine: Terrorists Responsible for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 (TRANSLATED) 

 

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 Can you believe comments like "they are bringing spies" and "don't they know there's a war going on". No empathy, no regrets..........

Pretty disgusting! Its a Russian made, fairly sophisticated Sam (surface to air missile System)That can only be operated by trained(read russians or allies) operaters. The Russian backed rebelsin the Ukrain have shot down a couple of large transport aircraft at high altitude before,So it looks like them.The ruskies shot down the Korian Air jumbo, so they have form also.If the Ruskies are involved, kick them out of the UN, or something like that.
"Ras"putin lies all the time.Don,t trust ANY of them.Pretty discusting, as I have said. Bill

bill12 wrote:

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.The ruskies shot down the Korian Air jumbo, so they have form also.If the Ruskies are involved, kick them out of the UN, or something like that.
"Ras"putin lies all the time.Don,t trust ANY of them.Pretty discusting, as I have said. Bill

-- Edited by bill12 on Friday 18th of July 2014 12:37:13 PM

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 As a former airline Pilot it deeply saddens me to learn of accidents such as this where many lives are lost. The Airbus A380 can carry up to 500 passengers, so the responsibility of the flight crew is enormous in any passenger carrying operation. Getting away from MH17, the Korean Air accident over Sakhalin, Russia on 01 September 1983, was very complex. I was a check & Training Captain with Korean at the time. The flight crew were completely at fault . They had no idea where they were which was a direct result of a wrong input into the INS (Navigation system) after departing Anchorage, Alaska. There were also a lot of U.S. military aircraft  in the area of Sakhalin at the time, and KL007 was mistaken by the Russians for a U.S. military aircraft. Although that is subject to conjecture !!

Up until the late 1990s the Koreans were hopeless pilots but have now smartened up their act. A typical example of their incompetence is KL801 on 06 August 1997, when one of their 747s went in on an approach to Guam. This is an excerpt from a report at the time:

• Korean Air Flight 801 (Boeing 747-3B5) from Seoul to Agana, Guam, The crew attempted a night-time approach to Guam runway 06L. Flight 801 had descended 800 feet below the prescribed altitude, struck the 709 feet Nimitz Hill at a height of 650 feet and crashed in a jungle valley, breaking up and bursting into flames. Subsequent investigation found that the captain's failure to adequately brief and execute the non-precision approach and the first officer's and flight engineer's failure to effectively monitor and cross-check the captain's execution of the approach were directly responsible for the crash. It was the first fatal crash of the Boeing 747-300. Contributing factors were the captain's fatigue and Korean Air's inadequate flight crew training. Damage total destruction, Injuries multiple/severe, Deaths- 228 (22 of 23 crew, 206 of 231 passengers), Airframe Destroyed

.

Bryan wrote:

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I switched the TV on this morning (channel 9) and the presenters in sombre tones kept talking about a plane being shot down. I thought please don't let it be the plane my wife is on. Anyway after what seemed like 5 minutes waiting to hear which flight and where, I looked to the computer for answers.

Its sad news again and my heart goes out to all aboard. I understand there were 27 Australians on board.

 

 

 

Just got a call. She arrived safely and the long delays were caused by typhoons.

 

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 Great news Bryan, feel for the rellies of all the others that weren't so lucky. 

bill12 wrote:

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Did a Russian missile destroy the korian airliner? I don,t care if they were off course. The ruskies should not have fored on an odviously civil aircraft.

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 Yes. It was a Russian missile shot from a Russian fighter plane. As I mentioned, this incident is very complex. The aircraft had strayed off course over a sensitive Russian military installation at Sakhalin. There were U.S. military aircraft in the area at the time provoking the Russians by flying up to their airspace and turning away at the last moment before entering. The Ruskies thought they had shot a U. S. military plane. However without getting into a long story about how it happened, the bottom line is the Russian fighter should have identified the Korean jetliner as a passenger aircraft before pulling the trigger. At the time the missile was fired, the aircraft was only minutes away from clearing Russian airspace. This flight was from New York to Seoul. The B747-200 series does not have the range to fly the route non-stop. Anchorage is a "Technical Stop" which usually means a stopover to uplift more fuel.

If you are interested in aviation and the complete story, you'll find it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Air_Lines_Flight_007#Flight_deviation_from_assigned_route

so horribly horribly tragic.  Some were Doctor specialists in HIV/AIDS, and were travelling to a Melb. conference.