8 Apr
2001
8 Apr
'01
3:46 p.m.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Curt Vendel" <curt(a)atari-history.com>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Monday, April 09, 2001 6:36 AM
Subject: Re: OT somewhat. China, our aircraft, delays.
I've flown back and forth between Canada nd Hong Kong for the past
decade, and I'm current living in Hong Kong, so I'm somewhat
familiar with that patch of air space. At this time of year there
is a lot of turbulence in that region, and I suspect it played
a role in the accident. This is somewhat consistent with the
reports on the accident. Since the US plane is larger and slower
than the Chinese fighters it would be effected more by the
turbulence. This would explain the report of its sudden movement
into the Chinese fighter. If this is the case, it truely was an
accident, and neither side is to blame, just a case of mis-judging
distances and weather.
The catch 22 here is the "Black Box"
in the plane, which would
basically tell exactly what happened up there and whether or not the
plane
made the supposed sudden turn or if the Chinese
fighter jockey was
playing
it a little too close to the cuff and crashed
into the plane.
Military aircraft do not normally carry flight data recorders. This
would be a Bad Thing if the aircraft were shot down
and had details of it's course and speed, not to mention cockpit
conversations and radio traffic prior to being shot down.
Any GPS or other positioning data would have been flushed prior to
landing, since it would have been on the destruction list.
There are several variants to the scenario (this is part of the reason
the crew are still being held) but the most likely, and eliminating as
much rhetoric as possible, is that the Finback was either holding
formation way too close and they contacted during the course of normal
flight and manouvering, or the Finback was doing a 'thump' pass and
misjudged and they hit.
Some reports indicate that the Finback hit the prop on the way past, let
me tell you that a 16' diameter prop on a 7,500 SHP gas turbine will
ruin your whole day. (Another account is that the Finback pilot ejected
ok, but into one of the props. Ick.)
In either case, if the matter is not resolved within a reasonable time
frame, it is reasonable to assume the US will take action against China
in some form, (though I doubt if they will do anything before the crew
are returned, realistically, they are less worried about the aircraft
itself) probably this action will take the form of commissioning a new,
well armed, aircraft carrier off the coast of China.
USS Taiwan by name. (Basically, I expect the US to give Taiwan anything
on it's shopping list) China's entry to the WTO would now be seriously
in doubt, and I'd say they can forget the 2008 Olympics.
The Chinese side of the story has changed somewhat today. The other
Chinese pilot has been somewhat dis-credited by the Chinese media for
not telling the complete story. It could be that there will be a
solution sometime in the next few days.
My 02c worth.
Now back to our regularly scheduled Classic Computers.
FLGOFF (AIRTC) Geoff Roberts
FLTCDR
No. 14 (City of Port Pirie) Flight
S.A. Squadron
Air Training Corps
geoffrob(a)stmarks.pp.catholic.edu.au
--
Dr. Mark Green mark(a)cs.ualberta.ca
McCalla Professor (780) 492-4584
Department of Computing Science (780) 492-1071 (FAX)
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2H1, Canada