Let's address the heat flash first:Satellite Shows Heat Flash When Russian Metrojet Plane Crashed, But No Missile: U.S. OfficialsVideo at link above:
A senior defense official told NBC News late Monday that an American infrared satellite detected a heat flash at the same time and in the same vicinity over the Sinai where the Russian passenger plane crashed. U.S. intelligence analysts believe it could have been some kind of explosion on the aircraft itself, either a fuel tank or a bomb, but that there's no indication that a surface-to-air missile brought the plane down. That same infrared satellite would have been able to track the heat trail of a missile from the ground. "The speculation that this plane was brought down by a missile is off the table," the official said.
I'm leaning towards explosive device planted on the plane. Set on a timer or remotely detonated?
A second senior U.S. defense official also confirmed the surveillance satellite detected a "flash or explosion" in the air over the Sinai at the same time.
According to the official, "the plane disintegrated at a very high altitude," when, as the infrared satellite indicates, "there was an explosion of some kind."
That official also stressed "there is no evidence a missile of any kind brought down the plane."
Unusual or uncharacteristic sounds were recorded
Cockpit recordings suggest pilots did not manage to send distress signal after sudden situation developed
Russia's Interfax news service has seen a transcript of the cockpit recordings. The crew had a routine exchange with air traffic controllers four minutes before the aircraft vanished from radar screens, and they did not mention anything unusual or any other object near the aircraft.
Unusual sounds were recorded in the cockpit as a Russian passenger jet crashed in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula at the weekend, sources told Russia's Interfax news agency on Tuesday.The news comes after revelations by US broadcasters that satellite images had detected a heat flash at the same time.
The disappearance of the Russian airliner which crashed in Sinai on Saturday was preceded by sounds in the cockpit “uncharacteristic of a standard flight”, according to Russian media.
The Interfax news agency quoted officials in Cairo as providing a first insight into audio recordings from the Airbus 321’s “black box” recorders.
They reported that after a period of routine discussions between crew members, “the recordings show sounds uncharacteristic of a standard flight precede the moment of the airliner’s disappearance”.
According to Interfax, the recordings also suggest "there was a sudden emergency situation on board which took the crew by surprise, and the pilots did not have time to send a distress signal".
You may recall me having difficulties with the contradictory claims coming out of Egypt?First the plane was safe in Turkish airspace. Then it wasn't. The pilot had made contact. Then he didn't. I found the claim of the plane being in Turkish airspace particularly egregious, because it seemed to be a time buying kind of excuse. Also muddying the waters up a great deal.Update #1-
gallier2November 3, 2015 at 6:12 AMWhere were the US LaWS ships during the flight ?https://www.google.be/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=TcA4VqnBA4LBcK3As8AO&gws_rd=ssl#q=l…+
Thanks Gallier! Hadn't heard of this laser weapon previously? Check Gallier's link and also get a load of the latest one pushed by Lockheed Martin
“This test represents the next step to providing lightweight and rugged laser weapon systems for military aircraft, helicopters, ships and trucks.”
There are 3 previous posts from the day the plane crashed1-Russian Passenger Jet Crashes After Take Off from Sinai Peninsula- No survivors2- ISIS Claims Responsibility for Downing Russian Passenger Jet ?3- Russian Plane Crash in Egypt- Recent UpdatesIn the past 24 hours there have been a number of other informative posts too: