Note: for a discussion of the conspiracy theories emerging following the shooting down of Malaysian Flight MH17 shot down over Ukraine, go here.
The blogosphere and the environs of youTube and elsewhere is beginning to explode with theories as to what happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. In particular, this radar track is genuinely peculiar.
One of the comments left on the YouTube page is also distressing and chilling.
<—– retired US military tactical air controller
Of course, we don’t know if this poster is a retired US military tactical air controller, but speculation that the plane was shot down is certainly widespread.
Here is an article which argues the plane was shot down by a missile, perhaps from North Korea, which is testing missiles at the moment, and as this article rather scarily reveals, has actually caused China to complain to PRNK of danger to their flights within the last little while.
It would certainly not be the first time a civilian airliner has been downed in error. Even the most highly trained personnel can make terrible mistakes.

156 men, 53 women, 57 kids aged 2 to 12, and 8 babies aged 2 or less were on board when Iranian civilian Flight 655 departed Bandar Abbas Airport for Dubai.
Iran Air Flight 655Ā was a civilian passenger flight fromĀ TehranĀ toĀ DubaiĀ that was shot down by theĀ United States NavyĀ guided missile cruiserĀ USSĀ VincennesĀ on 3 July 1988.
The attack took place in Iranian airspace, over Iran’s territorial waters in the Persian Gulf, and on the flight’s usual flight path.
The aircraft, anĀ Airbus A300Ā B2-203, was destroyed byĀ SM-2MRĀ surface-to-air missilesĀ fired from theĀ Vincennes.
All 290 on board, including 66 children and 16 crew, died.Ā This attack ranks ninth among theĀ deadliest disasters in aviation history, the incident retains the highest death toll of any aviation incident in the Indian Ocean and the highest death toll of any incident involving an Airbus A300 anywhere in the world.Ā TheĀ VincennesĀ had entered Iranian territorial waters after one of its helicopters drew warning fire from Iranian speedboats operating within Iranian territorial limits.
According to the Iranian government,Ā VincennesĀ negligently shot down the civilian aircraft: the airliner was makingĀ IFFĀ squawksĀ in Mode III (not Mode II used by Iranian military planes), a signal that identified it as a civilian craft, and operators of Vincennes mistook for Mode II.
According to the United States Government, the crew incorrectly identified the IranianĀ Airbus A300Ā as an attackingĀ F-14 TomcatĀ fighterĀ (a plane made in the United States and operated at that time by only two forces worldwide, the United States Navy and theĀ Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force). The Vincennes was signalling warnings on a military channel which the civilian plane could not technically receive. Hence, the airliner was unable to respond to several requests for it to change course.
The event generated a great deal of controversy and criticism of the United States. Some analysts have blamed U.S. military commanders and the captain ofĀ VincennesĀ for reckless and aggressive behavior in a tense and dangerous environment.
In 1996, the United States and Iran reached “an agreement in full and final settlement of all disputes, differences, claims, counterclaims” relating to the incident at theĀ International Court of Justice.Ā As part of the settlement, the United States agreed to pay US$61.8 million, an average of $213,103.45 per passenger, in compensation to the families of the Iranian victims. However, the United States has never admitted responsibility, nor apologized to Iran.
As of February 2014, Iran Air was still using flight number IR655 on theĀ TehranāDubaiĀ route as a memorial to the victims, contrary to the informal convention amongst many other airlines that discontinue flight numbers associated with tragedies.

The destruction of KAL 007 plunged the Cold War to even greater freezing depths.
Korean Air Lines Flight 007Ā (also known asĀ KAL007Ā andĀ KE007) was a scheduledKorean Air LinesĀ flight fromĀ New York CityĀ toĀ SeoulĀ viaĀ Anchorage.
On September 1, 1983, itĀ was shot down by aĀ SovietĀ Su-15Ā interceptorĀ nearĀ Moneron Island, west ofĀ SakhalinĀ Island, in theĀ Sea of Japan. The interceptor’s pilot was Major Gennadi Osipovich.
All 269 passengers and crew aboard were killed, includingĀ Lawrence McDonald, a sitting member of theĀ United States Congress.
The aircraft was en route from Anchorage to Seoul when it flew through prohibited SovietĀ airspaceĀ around the time of a separate U.S.reconnaissanceĀ mission.
The Soviet Union initially denied knowledge of the incident,Ā but later admitted the shootdown, claiming that the aircraft was on a spy mission.Ā TheĀ PolitburoĀ said it was a deliberate provocation by the United StatesĀ to test the Soviet Union’s military preparedness, or evenĀ to provoke a war. TheĀ White HouseĀ accused the Soviet Union of obstructing search and rescue operations.Ā TheĀ Soviet militaryĀ suppressed evidence sought by theĀ International Civil Aviation OrganizationĀ (ICAO) investigation, notably theĀ flight data recorders,Ā which were eventually released eight years later after theĀ collapse of the Soviet Union.
The incident was one of the tensest moments of theĀ Cold WarĀ and resulted in an escalation ofĀ anti-SovietĀ sentiment, particularly in the United States. The opposing points of view on the incident were never fully resolved. Consequently, several groups continue to dispute official reports and offer alternative theories of the event. The subsequent release ofĀ KAL 007 flight transcriptsĀ and flight recorders by theĀ Russian FederationĀ has clarified some details.
As a result of the incident, the United States altered tracking procedures for aircraft departingĀ Alaska.

Various witnesses claimed to have seen “something” approaching TWA 800 before it exploded – theories range from a naval missile to a UFO.
In 1996,Ā TWA Flight 800Ā exploded and crashed 12 minutes after taking off from John F. Kennedy airport ā killing 230 people.
After a four-year investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) concluded defective wiring caused a spark which ignited the planeās fuel supply.
However, that explanation contradicts the hundreds of FBI witnesses who say they saw a streak of light rise up towards the plane, where a fireball emerged.
These reports have caused some to believe the aircraft was actually shot down by a missile.
Who would shoot down a civilian plane over the US? Apart from terorrists wielding a ground-to-air missile, (unlikely, in retrospect, because no claim of having perpetrated the event was made) one of the prevailing theories is that the US military mistakenly hit it during Navy training sessions, which were scheduled off the Long Island coast on the same day. Other anomalies surrounding the event include explosive residues on the planeās remnants, claims that the FBI tampered with evidence, and discrepancies between the radar data and the official theory.
And in 2009,Ā Air France Flight 447Ā inexplicably dropped out of the sky and plunged into the Atlantic Ocean ā sending 228 people to their watery graves. There was no mayday call, and no one was aware the plane went down until hours later, when the pilots failed to make their planned contact with air traffic control. The āself-flyingā jet was supposed to be among the safest aircraft in history, and it seemed unfathomable for it to just disappear.

Air France 447 – it took two years to find the plane, and to this day people wonder what really happened.
It was incredibly difficult to piece together the cause of the disaster ā wreckage was strewn about the ocean floor.
Philippine AirlinesĀ Flight 434Ā (PAL434, PR434) was the route designator of a flight fromĀ Ninoy Aquino International Airport,Ā Pasay City, in theĀ Philippines, to New Tokyo International Airport (nowĀ Narita International Airport),Ā near Tokyo, Japan, with one stop atĀ Mactan-Cebu International Airport,Ā Cebu, in the Philippines.
On December 11, 1994 theĀ Boeing 747-283B, tail number EI-BWF, was flying on the second leg of the route, from Cebu to Tokyo, when a bomb planted by terroristĀ Ramzi YousefĀ exploded, killing one passenger and damaging vital control systems. It was a part of the much larger plan, the ultimately unsuccessfulĀ Bojinka terrorist attacks, which were intended to destroy 11 airliners.
57-year-old Captain Eduardo “Ed” Reyes,Ā an experienced veteran pilot, was able to land the aircraft, saving the plane and all the remaining passengers and crew. The flight crew also consisted of First Officer Jaime Herrera and Systems Engineer Dexter Comendador.
Authorities later discovered that a passenger on the aircraft’s preceding leg wasĀ Ramzi Yousef.Ā He was later convicted of the 1993Ā World Trade Center bombing.Ā Yousef boarded the flight under the fake Italian name “Armaldo Forlani”,Ā an incorrect spelling of the name of the Italian legislatorĀ Arnaldo Forlani.
Yousef boarded the aircraft for theĀ ManilaĀ toĀ CebuĀ leg of the flight. After the plane was airborne, he went into the lavatory with hisĀ dopp kitĀ in hand and took off his shoes to get out the batteries, wiring, and spark source hidden in the heel (below a level where metal detectors in use at the time could detect anything). Yousef removed an alteredĀ CasioĀ digital watch from his wrist to be used as a timer, unpacked the remaining materials from his dopp kit, and assembled his bomb. He set the timer for four hours later, which was approximately the time at which the plane would be far out over the ocean en route to Tokyo, put the entire bomb back into his dopp kit, and returned to his current seat.
After asking a flight attendant for permission to move to seat 26K, saying he could get a better view from that seat, Yousef moved to that seat and tucked the assembled bomb into theĀ life vestĀ pocket under that seat. He exited the aircraft in Cebu.Ā Philippine domestic flight attendant Maria dela Cruz noticed that Yousef had switched seats during the course of the Manila to Cebu flight and got off the plane in Cebu with the rest of the domestic flight crew, but did not pass the information along to the international flight crew that boarded at Cebu for the trip to Tokyo. 25 other passengers also got off the plane at Cebu, where 256 more passengers and a new cabin crew boarded the plane for the final leg of the flight to Tokyo.
After a 38-minute delay the flight took off with a total of 273 passengers on board and 24-year old Haruki IkegamiĀ (ę± äøę„樹 Ikegami Haruki), a Japanese industrial sewing machine maker returning from a business trip to Cebu, occupying 26K.Ā Four hours after Yousef planted his bomb, the device exploded underneath Ikegami, killing him and injuring an additional 10 passengers in adjacent seats in front of and behind seat 26K.Ā The blast blew a hole in the floor, and the cabin’s rapid expansion from the explosion severed several control cables in the ceiling, which controlled the plane’s rightĀ aileron, as well as cables that connected to both the pilot and first officer’s steering controls.Ā Fortunately, this particular 747, formerly operated byĀ Scandinavian Airlines, had a different seating configuration and seat 26K was two rows forward of the centre fuel tank so that the hole in the floor punched through to the cargo hold instead and spared the plane from a fiery explosion that would surely have destroyed it.
The bomb’s orientation, positioned front-to-back and upward angled from horizontal, caused the blast to expand vertically and lengthwise.Ā This configuration meant that Ikegami’s body absorbed most of the blast force and the plane’s outer structure was spared.Ā The lower half of his body fell into the cargo hold and ten passengers sitting in the seats in front of and behind Ikegami were also injured; one needed urgent medical care.Ā The bomb tore out a two square foot (0.2Ā m2) portion of the cabin floor, revealing the cargo hold underneath, but the fuselage of the plane stayed intact.Ā Additionally, the 38-minute delay in takeoff from Cebu meant the plane was not as far out to sea as anticipated, which contributed to the captain’s options available for an emergency landing.
So. Shot down? By a plane? Or a missile? or destroyed by a carefully placed bomb.
One thing is for certain, it may be some time yet before we know. We may never know.
Despite the curiosity of the radar track video, our bet is on a bomb. After all, bombs on planes in flight can be utterly destructive, as we know from Pan Am flight 103.
Flight 103, you will recall, was aĀ flightĀ fromĀ FrankfurtĀ toĀ DetroitĀ viaĀ LondonĀ andĀ New York CityĀ that was destroyed by aĀ terroristĀ bomb on Wednesday, 21 December 1988, killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew on board.Ā Large sections of the aircraft crashed intoĀ Lockerbie, in Scotland, killing 11 more people on the ground.
One thing is for sure, we need transparency, and we’re not currently getting it.
With our technology in todays aircraft and our ability to track virtually everything in orbit, (currently 22,000+) we can the horribly obvious. This is a tragedy, the US ia aware as are all nations near. As with many other man made calamities-3 mile Island, Chernobyl, etc. they will wait to tell publicly what has happened.
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Feb 2014 India nixes deal with France for fighter jets citing no money left in its budget. Mar 1, 2014 just 7 days prior to Malaysian flight 370 unknown and maybe ill fated departure from Kuala Lampur.A rat, smoking gun, motive, set-up or conspirarcy or all of the above.Was a Lyndon LaRouche’s loyalist and / or Michael Roach’s loyalist onboard flight? Were any French nationalists onboard flight? Miffed by India’s nixing of fighter deal might be motive? If terrorists has plane, USA is likely it’s next target likely on or about 3/17/2014? If Aliens are involved, then western islands off
Malaysia might be a place to seek intelligence gathering for sign of Aliens involvement. Last but not least it’s a very horrible tragic accident for family, friends and strangers touched by this tragedy. My prayers goes out to all involved in search and all concerned humans affected directly and indirectly by this great tragedy. May a higher power help / aid us to come to the real truth and hopefully unlike 9/11/01 the Truthers will not go away quietly. Thank you!!!!!!!
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I think it was shot down- just not by mistake. That aircraft the satellite spotted at 45,000 feet was most likely a fighter jet that was tracking the flight once it was known that communications had been shut down and that the two “passport thieves” were Iranian nationals. Wow, that was a quick identification- knowing they were the bogus passports was easy- identifying the men, a tougher task. They followed the plane awaiting 1) a go ahead to KO the flight and 2) the plane to be far enough out into the Indian Ocean so they could drop them deep in the drink before they reached the middle east with a potential weapon of mass destruction (no dropping this baby off over land where someone might SEE something). A U.S. jet? Most likely. Probably Israeli intelligence involved. That’s why we’re not going to waste our time searching blindly- we’re going to search where we knocked the plane down- so we can find it and control the site. Why isn’t anyone taking credit if it was a terrorist act- because it failed miserably. We’ll never tell- can’t have all those chinese people suing us. How’s that for a crazy conspiracy?
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Scarily possible – along with a lot of other theories – what a world we live in.
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[…] Was Malaysia Airlines flight 370 shot down? | Well, This Is What I Think ā Was Malaysia Airlines flight 370 shot down? Posted: March 11, 2014 in Political musings, Popular Culture et al … The Soviet military suppressed evidence sought by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) investigation, … […]
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[…] Was Malaysia Airlines flight 370 shot down? | Well, This Is What I Think ā The blogosphere and the environs of youTube and elsewhere is beginning to explode with theories as to what happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. … Was Malaysia Airlines flight 370 shot down? … May a higher power help / aid us to come to the real truth and hopefully unlike 9/11/01 the … […]
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[…] Was Malaysia Airlines flight 370 shot down? | Well, This Is What I Think ā Was Malaysia Airlines flight 370 shot down? Posted: March 11, 2014 in Political musings, Popular Culture et al … Mar 1, 2014 just 7 days prior to Malaysian flight 370 unknown and maybe ill fated departure from Kuala Lampur.A rat, … […]
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