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1.  

   Sounds scammy

   

   dorpus, Apr 3rd, 2003 @ 2:24am

   
   

   Correct me if I'm wrong, but modern missiles are pretty sophisticated and are no longer easily fooled by flares. A fighter jet combines its agility with launching lots of decoys to confuse the missile for a fraction of a second. Passenger planes have no such agility.
   
   Also, would we want passenger planes dumping decoys all over the crowded skies and cities? What happens when decoys get sucked into other plane engines? What if a flaming flare lands on somebody's roof, a national forest, and starts a flaming inferno?
   

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2.  

   Scammy...perhaps

   

   mgallagher, Apr 3rd, 2003 @ 7:02am

   
   

   Dorpus is right about anti-IR guidance being a combination of deployed devices and maneuvers, however it seems unlikely that a passenger jet would be attacked using a very sophisticated SAM or AAM - those get pretty pricey for the terrorist income bracket, even the wealthy ones.
   
   The bigger question to me (and the reason that commercial countermeasures sound at least a little dubious) is: when has a civilian aircraft ever been attacked by missles? The only example that comes to mind is when an Aegis destroyer in the Persian gulf accidentally shot down an Iranian passenger jet a few years ago. I may just not know of other examples, can anyone offer any?
   
   Is this a reasonable response to a real threat, or just another indulgence in paranoid fantasy? That seems to be becoming the new national passtime.

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3.  

   Re: Scammy...perhaps

   

   Mark Fox, Apr 3rd, 2003 @ 7:59am

   
   

   An Israeli plane was attacked in Kenya recently. Since the missiles missed their was some belief that the system had already been installed on the plane but that does not seem to be the case.

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4.  

   Re: Scammy...perhaps

   

   Mike (profile), Apr 3rd, 2003 @ 10:38am

   
   

   Is this a reasonable response to a real threat, or just another indulgence in paranoid fantasy? That seems to be becoming the new national passtime
   
   There have been cases (in Europe, if I remember correctly) of terrorists being caught with shoulder-mounted missiles, with plans to shoot down civilian airlines.
   
   No time right now to look up a link, but if I get a chance later, I'll see what I can find.

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5.  

   Re: Scammy...perhaps

   

   dorpus, Apr 3rd, 2003 @ 12:48pm

   
   

   Much easier way to take down an airliner: at night, fly a bunch of black kites with kevlar lines at the end of the runway. The engines will suck in the kevlar lines (cheap and widely available to kite fliers) and fail.
   

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6.  

   Re: Scammy...perhaps

   

   Tony, Apr 3rd, 2003 @ 1:42pm

   
   

   dorpus,
   
   thanks for the words of wisdom and encouragement. NOT!! Some people may have already known about this, but for that haven't you have given them the idea.

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7.  

   Re: Scammy...perhaps

   

   dorpus, Apr 3rd, 2003 @ 4:17pm

   
   

   The IRA tried to down British helicopters with kevlar lines tied to balloons. It didn't work because the rotor wash pushed the balloons away. Jet engines suck IN the air though. If a jet engine fails, it's possible for the fan blades to come apart and make the engine explode like a shotgun shell, turning the passengers and fuel tank into Baghdad Beef.
   

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8.  

   missile system

   

   terry tharp, Aug 7th, 2003 @ 5:30pm

   
   

   Does anyone know the names of these companys working on this missile system to protect airlines. Thanks terry

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