
Kill Everyone On Board - zopticity
http://boardingarea.com/blogs/viewfromthewing/2011/06/01/was-the-government-really-prepared-to-kill-everyone-onboard-the-united-flight-that-returned-to-dc-after-a-seat-reclining-incident/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boardingarea%2Fviewfromthewing+%28View+from+the+Wing%29
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qq66
The F-16s aren't there to kill everyone on board. They're there so that if
they do need to kill everyone on board, they're in the right position.

When information channels are so weak, it's imperative to get into the best
decisionmaking vantage point available.

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lifeisstillgood
Kill everyone is certainly not the only option nor the most likely reason for
scrambling. Any commander will value eyes on the ground as high quality
intelligence, and in this situation a calm professional pilot obsrving the
cockpit will be useful, even if the airforce don't have gizmos for listening
in, videoing etc

so, no, reaching for a gun might mean you just want to look down the sight to
see more.

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michaelleland
I agree. They could have forced it to land as well, simply by getting rid of
an engine or two.

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VladRussian
Korean airliner over Soviet Union in 1978:

>He fired a pair of R-60 missiles, one of which caused heavy damage to part of
the left wing of the Boeing 707 and punctured the fuselage, causing rapid
decompression, and killing two of the 97 passengers. After being hit, the
airliner descended into cloud and was lost by the Su-15s. At 23:05, 40 minutes
after the missile strike, it was finally forced to land by another Su-15TM on
the frozen Korpijärvi Lake

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Air_Lines_Flight_902>

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VladRussian
>Now, there is only one thing that the F-16s could have done in this
situation. Either they do nothing, or they shoot down the plane.

Utter BS. Before it comes to killing, the escort fighters usually show to the
plane being escorted where to go. They do it using radio, visually (pilot's
hands, overall fighter maneuvering and rolling), and if it comes to it - using
tracer rounds. After the escorted plane refuse to follow the commands ... and
continue flying toward DC ... in the post 9/11 world the kill would seem like
a publicly acceptable outcome.

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dreamdu5t
Sometimes I'm amazed that people don't understand why we have a military and
what it does for us.

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VladRussian
to drive technological progress? After all, the exponential development of
brain and technology was triggered by the ape discovering the tactical
advantages of stick and stone in fight/hunt.

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jrussbowman
I figured it was a scare tactic. "See those jets outside the window? Yea
you're in that much trouble". Kind of like when you're picking on someone and
their big bother shows up.

