AIR FRANCE JET MISSING – Is it Terrorism?
A missing Air France jet from Rio de Janeiro to Paris is reported to have run into lightning and thunderstorms over the Atlantic Monday. The insinuation is made that this jet was brought down by bad weather. However, lightning rarely if ever brings down a jetliner and passenger jets are amazingly adept at and capable of "seeing" bad thunderstorms ahead and going around them.
"Lightning issues have been considered since the beginning of aviation. They were far more prevalent when aircraft operated at low altitudes. They are less common now since it’s easier to avoid thunderstorms," said Bill Voss, president and CEO of Flight Safety Foundation, Alexandria, Va. "Planes have specific measures built in to help dissipate electricity along the aircraft’s skin. I cannot recall in recent history any examples of aircraft being brought down by lightning ," he told the Associated Press. "The conclusion to be drawn is that something catastrophic happened on board that has caused this airplane to ditch in a controlled or an uncontrolled fashion," Jane’s Aviation analyst Chris Yates told The Associated Press.
"I would suggest that potentially it went down very quickly and so quickly that the pilot on board didn’t have a chance to make that emergency call," Yates said, adding that the possibilities ranged from mechanical failure to terrorism.
The question is, was it terrorism?