June 10, 2009

TWO TERRORISTS ON DOWNED FLIGHT 447!?!?!?

Via FOXNEWS:

Two passengers with names linked to Islamic terrorism were on board the Air France flight that crashed in the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 on board, it has emerged.

French secret servicemen established the connection while working through the list of those who boarded the doomed Airbus in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on May 31.

Agents are now trying to establish dates of birth for the two dead passengers, and family connections.

There is a possibility that the name similarities are simply a "macabre coincidence," the source added, but the revelation is still being "taken very seriously."

I've been following, and the airspeed theory seems to be based on the thought that the jet might have been traveling faster than the 550 knots that it was supposed to be. Add that to wind shear from thunderstorms and if the jet reached the magic 720 knots it would break up due to meeting the sound barrier. That's fairly unlikely but not impossible, early jets repeatedly broke up without explanation until it was discovered they were operating at near sonic speed and the were broken up by a loss of control due to the extreme forces at that speed.

What is clear from the automatic messages sent by the plane as it broke up was that it lost pressurization and suffered a massive electrical failure. Whatever happened it caused an immediate break up of the plane in mid air.

That leaves, lightning, a bomb and the sound barrier as possibilities.

But unless it was a freakish accident lightning is not very likely. Planes survive that all the time. The sound barrier, quite possible. And finally a bomb. We know there was a threat and now two passengers may be involved in terrorism.

There has been no claim of responsibility. But I imagine they can tell an explosion from a breakup due to a sonic incident.

I guess we'll have to wait for the answer. I initially dismissed Rusty's thought as a bit premature. But now its looking more like his gut may have been right.

Hat Tip: WriterMom.

UPDATE by RUSTY: I bet "Osama bin Laden" and "Mohammad Atta" are just as common as Joe Smith and Pedro Gonzales over there.

Nothing to see here folks, move along.

BUT, if one were going to try to down an airplane AND one suspected that maybe the man had his eye on you wouldn't it seem logical -- as I've been saying since day one -- that the best point of access to that plane would be in some developing country where you knew security was much more lax?

Even if it turns out the plane downing was due to other factors, it's something for Homeland Security to think about.