
Commercial Pilot Catches Photos of Secret Chinese Missile Test - Inconel
https://theaviationist.com/2017/07/29/commercial-pilot-catches-remarkable-photos-of-alleged-secret-chinese-anti-missile-test/
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rb2e
I would think this would be a better link. Its pilot's own words too
[https://jpcvanheijst.com/blogs/2017/07/596970-rocket-
launch-...](https://jpcvanheijst.com/blogs/2017/07/596970-rocket-launch-over-
china)

~~~
dmurray
Agreed, and the other articles there also make excellent reading. The
avationist blog does add content, though, notably a photo taken from the
ground by a Chinese blogger of the same event.

~~~
tyingq
There's this link in the "pilots own words" post:
[http://liuqiankktt.blog.163.com/blog/static/1212642112017624...](http://liuqiankktt.blog.163.com/blog/static/121264211201762495336818/)
(scroll down for ground photos, appears to be the source for the photo in the
aviationist post)

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ada1981
"It is important information since it not only avoids the extremely remote
possibility that an aircraft may be hit by part of a vehicle used in a launch
test"

Did I miss something on mobile? Is this sentence just left incomplete? Did
anyone else find this confusing?

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Lordarminius
It is incomplete. Most likely the result of editing a longer passage.

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1024core
So.. what am I looking at? What's with the bubbles? I thought it was a droplet
on the lens or something. Could someone with more knowledge of this stuff tell
us what we're looking at?

~~~
vilhelm_s
I don't know the details, but it's the exhaust gases from the rocket spreading
(in near-vacuum they can spread many kilometers) and being lit up by sunlight.
There was a similar plume over San Fransisco from a Trident missile test a
while ago: [https://www.theverge.com/2015/11/12/9720728/san-francisco-
mi...](https://www.theverge.com/2015/11/12/9720728/san-francisco-missile-test-
ufo)

I'm guessing the bulb-shape from the first stage is because the gasses spread
further at higher altitude.

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appleflaxen
what are the legal implications/risks for this pilot? any risk if s/he ever
flies through china in the future?

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dogma1138
Likely none even that this is China.

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cmahler7
Something needs to be done about China, they could end the situation in North
Korea instantly by stopping trading with them. The fact they don't, combined
with their aggression in the South China Sea is telling. Sanctions or tariffs
should be placed, there are plenty of 3rd world countries with cheap labor.

~~~
dogma1138
China doesn't want million of Korean refugees crossing into China.

It doesn't want a true humanitarian disaster on scales rarely seen before in
history.

And NK is a good distraction that China can pull out of its pocket anytime its
own activists in the area are getting too much scrutiny.

~~~
wavefunction
Seems short-sighted, as in the winding down of the Kim Juche dynasty through a
planned-for and managed process seems more attractive to China than those
million+ refugees fleeing North Korea en masse because we went back to a
shooting war.

In fact there is absolutely no real reason for China not to begin this effort
immediately with or without the assistance of partners, given how their
leniency has allowed NK to develop ICBMs and the fact they'll face the tidal
wave if they fail to act to remove the NK regime. What happens if the fail to
prepare and a war between NK/US happens? They're still going to be dealing
with the refugees.

The US is not going to suffer a NK that and and does threaten nuclear attack
as a foreign policy.

~~~
bilbo0s
"...given how their leniency has allowed NK to develop ICBMs..."

The issue is that North Korea's atomic and missile programs were helped along
by Russia. That's where the technical assistance all came from, at least
initially. So China, and even the US for that matter, really had no way of
stopping that. The Russian involvement is a fact that is generally glossed
over by policy makers because there is little you can do to stop Russia.

What's surprising about the Trump belief that China could have stopped Russia,
is what it says about Trump's foreign policy acumen. It betrays either Trump's
lack of knowledge about the history of the North Korean program, or his
naiveté with respect to the extent of China's power.

~~~
lostlogin
“After listening for 10 minutes, I realized it’s not so easy,” the president
told the Journal. “I felt pretty strongly that they had a tremendous power
[over] North Korea. ... But it’s not what you would think.” Trump.

[https://www.google.co.nz/amp/s/www.vox.com/platform/amp/2017...](https://www.google.co.nz/amp/s/www.vox.com/platform/amp/2017/4/12/15279654/trump-
north-korea-xi-10-minutes)

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g00n
Yay! Lots of secrets everywhere...

