Scene of destruction ... a policeman surveys the damaged cockpit of Pan Am 103 on December 22, 1998, the day after it was blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland. Picture: Roy Letkey Source: AFP
A Malaysian airliner has crashed in east Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board and stunning world leaders
MALAYSIA Airlines Flight 17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur is the latest in a long line of civilian aircraft brought down either by rebel ground fire, terrorists or military fighter jets.
In the past a lack of identifying technology or accidental airspace incursions have been used as an excuse for the atrocities.
Today there is no such excuse.
"This looks less like an accident than a crime," said Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
The destruction of the Malaysian flight, just four months after the loss of flight MH-370 in the Indian Ocean, is a global crime on an unimaginable scale.
Experts believe that it was either the act of incompetent and poorly trained operators from the pro-Russian separatist movement or a deliberate, provocative act designed to escalate the conflict in Ukraine. Either way Russia must bear some responsibility and will be subject to an even more intense regime of sanctions by the international community.
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Experts agreed that there was no way an accidental firing could have brought down the nearest over flying aircraft. This was not a simple heat seeking weapon and the Boeing 777 was shot down deliberately by a surface-to-air missile guided to its target by a sophisticated radar guidance system.
"This is a major piece of conventional weaponry designed for serious war fighting not for militias," said Dr John Blaxland from the ANU.
"There has historically been a risk from Stinger type weapons at low altitudes but this was an airliner flying at 33,000 feet."
Regardless of who pulled the trigger and why, 298 innocent lives — including 28 Australians — have been taken in history's worst ever case of airborne mass murder.
And this is not the first time that a civilian plane has been shot down in Ukrainian airspace.
In On 4 October 2001, a Siberian Airline Tu-154 airliner crashed over the Black Sea after allegedly being hit by a Russian built S-200 missile fired by Ukrainian forces.
No responsibility was ever claimed but Ukrainian officials expressed their condolences to the families of the 78 people on board.
Since the end of World War Two more than 20 civil aeroplanes have been lost to military or paramilitary action.
Horrifying task ... people looking for family members walk amid bodies of victims from Iran Air Flight 655 in a morgue in Bandar Abbas, Iran, a day after the plane was shot down over the Persian Gulf by the USS Vincennes. Picture: Mohammad Sayyad Source: AP
One of the worst was Iran Air Flight 655 that was shot from the sky over the Persian Gulf by the United States cruiser USS Vincennes on July 3, 1988, with the loss of all 290 people on board.
The aircraft was en-route from Tehran to Dubai and was emitting inappropriate identification codes that caused the American ship to identify it as a hostile Iranian F-14 fighter jet. When its actual identity could not be verified the cruiser fired a missile.
The US admitted liability and paid Iran $62 million in compensation.
During the Cold War Soviet fighter planes took out several civilian airliners that strayed into its airspace. These included two Korean Airlines flights.
The first, KAL 902, was shot down by a Soviet Su-15 fighter near Murmansk in northern Russia that failed to respond to the interceptors.
The aircraft made an emergency landing on a frozen lake and two of the 109 people on board were killed.
Grim search ... a Soviet mini-submarine used to search for debris from Korean Air Lines flight 007, shot down on September 1, 1983, near Sakhalin Island. Picture: Neal Ulevich Source: AP
The second tragedy occurred on September 1, 1983 when KAL Flight 007, a Boeing 747 jumbo jet, was shot out of the sky by a Soviet Su-15 fighter when it strayed into Soviet airspace near Sakhalin Island with the loss of 269 lives including US Congressman Larry McDonald.
Pilot error was blamed for the course error but the Soviets claimed the plane was on a spying mission.
In what would become one of the most serious incidents of the Cold War, the Soviets accused the US of using the incident to test Soviet defences or to provoke a war.
Closer to home an Antonov An-24 aircraft operated by Lionair as flight LN 602 was brought down by Tamil Tigers near the city of Jaffna with the loss of 55 lives.
On February 21, 1973 Libyan Airlines Flight 114 was intercepted by two Israeli F-4 Phantom jets over the Sinai Peninsula. When the offcourse airliner refused to land it was shot down with the loss of 108 of the 113 people on board.
The attacks against civilian aircraft are so random that they have involved aircraft from nations as diverse as Zimbabwe, Italy, Belarus, South Korea and Malaysia. In most cases it was a case of wrong place at wrong time rather than any specific targeting.
The clean up ... residents of Lockerbie, Scotland, look at the wreckage of Pan Am Flight 103. Picture: Roy Letkey Source: News Corp Australia
The one exception was Pan Am Flight 103 from Frankfurt to Detroit on December 21, 1988. The Boeing 747 was blown up by terrorists working for Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi over Lockerbie in Scotland with the loss of 259 people on the plane and 11 on the ground.
Civilian airliners often fly specific corridors to avoid trouble spots such as eastern Ukraine. Several airlines have flown around the conflict zone since the troubles began and since military aircraft have been targeted by both sides, but many airlines still use the most direct route from Europe to South-East Asia.
Other trouble spots such as Pakistan and Afghanistan also feature commercial aircraft corridors, but insurgents in both those countries do not have the advanced hardware required to bring down airliners flying above 10,000 metres.
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