Another "accident"
Iran has finally admitted to "accidentally" shooting down Ukrainian International Airlines Flight 752. The incident happened at the height of tensions between Iran and the US as Iran retaliated for the killing of Maj. Gen. Qasam Soleimani. A general in Iran admitted that the missile operator could not contact the plane as it was flying in a "sensitive" area. When contact with the aircraft could not be established, the operator on his own decided to launch a missile towards the aircraft. It was only then that they discovered that it was a civilian airliner and all passengers and crew were killed. The shooting down of the airplane was not intentional. As if that's any comfort to the relatives of the passengers and crew.
America and other western countries first reported that a missile from Iran most likely hit the ill-fated airplane, which Iran denied. But that's not new from a country like Iran. Many are now angry and asking for accountability for the incident and why the truth was concealed. There were also many Canadian passengers on the plane so they are also asking for accountability and justice. This is not the first time that the military has wrongly shot down civilian aircraft. The more well-known ones are the shooting of Korean Airlines Flight 902 by Russian fighter planes in 1978. The plane was able to make an emergency landing but two passengers died. In 1983 another Korean Airlines, Flight 007 was shot down by yet again Russian fighters. There were no survivors in this incident. Both were said to be violating Russian airspace.
Then there is the 1988 shooting down of Iran Air Flight 655 by a missile from the USS Vincennes, an American destroyer operating in the Middle East. The aircraft was mistaken to be an Iranian fighter. No survivors. The most recent one before the current mishap is the shooting down of Malaysian Flight 17 by a supposedly Russian-backed rebels in Ukraine. An incident also happened where Ukrainian officials also delayed fact-finding crews and the media early access to the crash site.
In this day and age, I find it hard to believe communication with an airplane cannot be established. In the case of the downing of Flight 752, the reason why the missile operator could not establish contact with the airplane is because the jamming of signals is weak. Isn't there an emergency channel that everyone in the world can use? And if the Chinese can send audible warnings to aircraft as they fly into supposedly "Chinese territory," why can't the Ukrainians do the same?
I think a new protocol for all airplane must be crafted where they should avoid flying over conflict areas, big or small, to avoid being "accidentally" shot down. Especially over Russian and Ukrainian airspace. All these airplanes were innocent, with no harmful intentions. The passengers had no chance of survival against missiles fired from fighters or launchers from the ground. One mistake, such as the one committed by the Iranian missile operator, is all it takes.
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