our flight was accompanied by 2 NATO Falcons clearly seen through the windows.
How would they have helped against a radar guided missile coming up from underneath at 2000mph?
Did they have jammers?
I don’t understand is why eurocontrol and airlines stopped flights only now
The whole notion that eurocontrol “has approved the flight plan” (what Malaysian states on their homepage) or that eurocontrol should have stopped overflights is wrong IMO. Eurocontrol has never been in the business of managing your overflight permissions. They just handle flight plans for contracting states. It’s neither the fault of the Ukranian ANSP UkSATSE, because I very much doubt the missile had a clearance to enter controlled airspace.
The Ukrainian Governement should have closed the airspace (at which point Eurocontrol would have rejected the flight plans), and the AOC issuing countries should have forbidden overflight of that region, as the FAA and EASA have done now
I see from my emails that Hayward’s advice was effective from 5th March 2014.
The Ukrainian Governement should have closed the airspace…
But that would have meant to admit that they have no control over their airspace any longer.
