How can they be so sure?

I don't know all the details of this, but isn't the area the plane was in classed as a war zone? It shouldn't have been there and I gather in a war zone they are entitled to 'down' the plane, sad as it is.

 

I read that US satellites detected the missile trace, together with intercepted phone conversations. Having said that much of what I bump into in the newspapers is clearly fabricated, so Who Knows?

Egg will be on Russian faces if it is proven that they supplied the missiles - clearly the people using it are much less discerning than trained professional military soldiers would be ... well ... other than the Yanks e.g. when they shot down Iran Air Flight 655

 

Pundit on the box this morning said that it has never happened before (particularly for commercial airliners flying above 30,000ft over war zones) so airlines would not have been taking precautions. A few (e.g. Quantas) have since stated that they started avoiding that air space months ago, most seem to be saying "as from now we will ...". I expect that people will ask Malaysia Airlines why they were not one of the ones in the "already avoiding it" brigade ... this second whammy might be curtains for the company Its 30 years since I have flown with Malaysian Airlines, but back then they were superb - both the service quality of the cabin crew, and the pilots. On one flight with them the pilot had to take emergency evasive action to avoid certain catastrophe because the air traffic controller had given him incorrect information ... mind you, I was still held up by armed gunman just outside Kuala Lumpur and got my name on the front page of the Straits Times ... wrong sort of claim-to-fame to brag about I suppose?!!

 

I think I will skip the offer of a cooking lesson thanks @shiney.

 

It is all very shocking. Easy to jump to (what appear to be clear) assumptions, but it's best to wait for evidence first. Although if the black boxes are on their way to Moscow as has been reported it is not certain that the truth will ever come out.

My airline of choice back in the nineties. Used them a number of times on the hop between H/row and Schiphol, and the last time I went to Oz. Deffo a quality airline back then.

 

I think the spread of the aircraft remains in the debris field rules out a crash.

Cheers, Tony.

 

Certainly the footage of the debris still falling after the explosion on the ground indicates a high altitude break up of some description.