Israel hosts its largest-ever international air force exercise. Until November 3rd, local media reports. Not far from where the Russian Airbus 321 flight crashed. Tragic coincidence?

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Photo essay / Drill aims to test the mettle of the men and women at the controls, rather than the technical capabilities of their fighter jets

Israel hosts its largest-ever international air force exercise

Israeli, American, Greek, and Polish air personnel square off against a fictional enemy state in two-week drill

By Judah Ari Gross October 30, 2015, 12:53 am 46

Israeli and foreign fighter jets fly in formation through cloudy skies over the Negev desert during the ‘Blue Flag’ exercise at Ovda Airfield near Eilat on October 27, 2015. (Israeli Air Force)

  Air forces from around the world have gathered deep in the Arava desert in the south of Israel for the past week and a half to take part in the largest aerial exercise in the history of the Israeli Air Force. The “Blue Flag” exercise, which is continuing through November 3, pits the Israeli Air Force, the United States Air Force, Greece’s Hellenic Air Force and the Polish Air Force against a fictional enemy state, the captain in charge of all IAF exercises told The Times of Israel Thursday night. A number of other countries, including Germany, also sent pilots and officers to observe the exercise, but did not take part. This joint drill is the second “Blue Flag” exercise; the first took place in 2013 and was the largest multi-lateral exercise the IAF had ever hosted. The various air forces collaborated closely through every step of the current exercise, the IAF captain said, from planning to execution and finally to debriefing.







 Though the exercise began on October 18, planning for it started nearly eight months ago, the Israeli official said, with an IAF representative contacting each participating country and initially asking, “What do you want to train for?” Those requests came together to form the plan for “Blue Flag,” which sent Israeli and American F-15 squadrons, along with Israeli, Hellenic and Polish F-16 squadrons, flying through nearly all of Israel’s air space, firing simulated weapons against fictional enemy missile launchers, convoys and aircraft, he said.


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Israel hosts largest-ever intl air force drill, pitting troops against fictional enemy

Published time: 30 Oct, 2015 14:56

© Israeli Air Force / Flickr

Israel is hosting its largest-ever international air force exercise. The two-week 'Blue Flag' drill features Israeli, American, Greek and Polish troops in a battle against a fictional enemy state.

The Blue Flag drill consists of Israeli and American F-15 squadrons, as well as Israeli, Hellenic, and Polish F-16 squadrons flying through Israeli airspace while firing simulated weapons against fictional enemy missile launchers, convoys, and aircraft, the Israeli Air Force captain in charge of the exercise told the Times of Israel.

© Israeli Air Force / Flickr

However, the captain said the exercise is designed to test the capabilities of the troops involved, rather than the military equipment itself. “We wanted it to be challenging for the airmen, rather than for the machines,” said the IAF captain, who could not be named due to security reasons.

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The following maps are presented  simply to put the sheer proximity  of the  military exercises and the  Russian Airbus A321 crash.

Russian Airbus A321 Crash – Can Putin Feel What Malaysians & Dutch Felt?

However, the Egyptian government has rubbished that the plane was shot down by missile. The Russian concluded that the Russian Airbus A321 that crashed in the Sinai broke up in mid-air at 36,000-feet. The plane had been heading from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to the Russian city of St Petersburg before the crash.

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CULTUREEL WOORDENBOEK

Suez-crisis map of Troop Movements

Suez-crisis

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Euroflights.info

Eilat with airports

Eilat Israel Port On a Map

 

Eilat is the southernmost city in Israel. Eilat is located on the Red Sea and is an important port for Israel and a popular resort town

Ovda Airport

Ovda Airport is located 45 km to the north from Eilat.

King Hussein International Airport, Jordan

King Hussein International Airport is located 10 km to the north east from Eilat.

Russian passenger jet crash: Black boxes analyzed, show no sign of system failure Live updates

 

Russian passenger jet crash: Black boxes analyzed, show no sign of system failure Live updates

Published time: 31 Oct, 2015 08:40Edited time: 7 Nov, 2015 23:13

Servicemen gather passengers' belongings on the crash site of the Airbus A321 that was carrying out Kogalymavia Flight 9268 from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg, 100 km south of El Arish in the northern Sinai Peninsula. © Maxim Grigoryev / RIA Novosti

The search and recovery operation continues in Egypt’s Sinai after a Russian passenger plane crashed there, killing all 224 people on board Saturday. Russian and Egyptian investigators are looking into the causes of the tragedy.

• 08 November 2015

  13:13 GMT
  
• 13:12 GMT
  

  Investigators of the jet crash are "90 percent sure" that the noise heard in the final moments of the cockpit recording was a bomb exploding, a member of the investigation team told Reuters.
• 09:32 GMT
  

  Emirates Airlines expects the plane tragedy will result in demands for stringent aviation security across the globe, the airline’s president, Tim Clark said, as cited by Reuters.
• 09:27 GMT
  

  The luggage of Russian tourists who arrive from Egypt is undergoing stricter than usual checks, said Igor Pedan, an official from UTG aviation services, which maintains Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport. “The procedure was non-standard, I can say,” he said. “All luggage was sent to a special zone, [it] was checked by cynologists [dog-handlers] with [sniffer] dogs, the luggage was checked by special equipment and only then was transferred to a clear zone, for passengers to pick it up, ” he added.
  
  
  
  
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  Unclear 'noise' recorded before A321 crash, its nature to be determined – Egypt’s investigators

  Published time: 7 Nov, 2015 16:02Edited time: 8 Nov, 2015 00:02

  
  

  
  

  The Russian A321’s black box recorded an unclear noise before crashing in Sinai, the head of Egypt’s investigation committee has confirmed. However, spectral analysis is required to determine its nature.

   

  The head of the Investigations Committee, Captain Ayman Mokadem, said the nature of debris scatter suggests an in-flight break up, but it is still too early to draw conclusions on the causes of the crash. While both flight data recorders have been found, the investigators are still studying them.
  
  Mokadem confirmed that some “noise” can be heard on the recording right before the crash. He still said its nature is unclear and a spectral analysis will be carried out to identify it.
  An international team of investigators are at the scene still “collecting information,” he said.

  
  

  Bel Trew - بل ترو @Beltrew

  Ayman el Mokadem says there are 47 investigators into Metrojet crash - 29 from egypt, 7 russia, France 6, Germany 2 - Ireland 3 #egyptcrash

  9:21 AM - 7 Nov 2015

  According to the flight data recorders, the incident occurred 23 minutes and 14 seconds after takeoff at an altitude of 30,888 feet in climbing mode, at a speed of 281 knots-autopilot engaged, he said.
  
  The investigators have listened to the audio from the cockpit voice recorder and are currently in the phase of writing the transcript, he added.
  
  Access to the crash site has been impeded by bad weather since Tuesday, he said. An investigation team consisting of 58 experts plan to return to the site as soon as weather conditions improve in the next few days.
  
  
  
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Doomed Russian holiday jet lurched up and down before plunging 31,000ft. Travellers still strapped in seats sucked from stricken Airbus A321 through hole at back of jet when the tail blew off

Terrifying final moments of doomed Russian jet: Flight data reveals plane lurched up and down then passengers were sucked out in their seats - as US satellite detects heat flash suggesting a bomb

• Doomed Russian holiday jet lurched up and down before plunging 31,000ft after being blown apart, bosses claim
• Travellers still strapped in seats sucked from stricken Airbus A321 through hole at back of jet when the tail blew off
• Plane crashed into Sinai peninsula killing all 224 passengers and crew just 23 minutes after leaving Sharm El Sheikh
• PM said security officials are ‘looking very carefully’ at whether there is a safety risk to Britons travelling to Egypt

By Tom Kelly for the Daily Mail

 

Published: 18:52 EST, 2 November 2015 | Updated: 23:26 EST, 2 November 2015

A doomed Russian passenger jet lurched up and down before plunging 31,000 feet after being blown apart by an ‘external impact’, airline bosses have revealed.

Travellers still strapped in their seats were sucked from the stricken Airbus A321 through a hole at the back of the jet when the tail blew off 23 minutes after leaving the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh, it was claimed.

The plane twice abruptly climbed nearly 3,000 feet in three seconds before falling 3,000 feet moments later in the final minutes before disappearing from radar, crashing in the Sinai peninsula with the loss of all 224 passengers and crew.

The news comes as US officials claim an American infra-red satellite detected a heat flash on the route the aircraft was taking seconds before the plane fell from the sky, suggesting there was some sort of explosion on board.

Egyptian military approach a plane's tail at the wreckage of a passenger jet bound for St Petersburg in Russia that crashed in Hassana

WILL YOUR FLIGHT BE CROSSING A TERRORIST DANGER ZONE? GRAPHIC REVEALS NO FLYING ZONES IN PLACE

Passenger jets leaving Britain routinely fly over areas of the world where conflict on the ground could put them at risk.

The risk was brought into tragic focus in July last year when a Malaysia Airlines passenger flight was shot down in eastern Ukraine by a missile launcher allegedly operated by pro-Russian separatists. All 298 people aboard Flight MH17 were killed.

Since then, with the exception of direct flights into Kiev, most airlines have avoided Ukrainian airspace.

However, MH17 is thought to have been destroyed by a sophisticated long-range missile – not the shoulder-launched devices obtained by IS gunmen and other rebel groups. These normally have maximum vertical range of 15,000 to 20,000ft, much less than the cruising height of commercial airliners.

Aviation authorities issue ‘Notices to Airman’ that place restrictions on commercial flights operated by carriers crossing hazardous airspace. For the world’s most dangerous areas – including Syria and Libya – all flights are banned.

But in others restrictions only apply to flights below a certain altitude, usually around 26,000ft, depending on the perceived range of anti-aircraft weapons available to gunmen in those countries. Warnings issued by the US Federal Aviation Administration cover global hotspots including Libya, Iraq, Yemen and parts of the Sinai Peninsular in Egypt. They are regarded as an international standard.

The Department for Transport’s list of flying restrictions for nine countries issued to British carriers is almost the same but also includes Pakistan.

Planes flying over such areas are warned not to go beneath 26,000ft because of the risk from terrorist or rebel fighters. In many cases – such as the Ukrainian capital Kiev – the no-fly rule does not include direct flights in and out.

Many terror groups around the world have access to the shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles, known as MANPADS – or Man-portable air-defence systems. They were developed by the US and Russia in the Cold War.

They are a threat to low-flying aircraft, especially helicopters, and it is possible they could be used to attack an aircraft taking off or landing.

In February 2003, then Prime Minister Tony Blair sent armoured vehicles to Heathrow in response to intelligence warning of an ‘extremely probable’ terrorist attack. While it did not happen, it is likely that such an attack could have involved the use of MANPADS.

The data does not show the heat flash travelling at any time, as would be the case had a ground-to-air missile been launched in the plane's direction.

Instead, the satellite evidence illustrates that there was just a single burst of ferocious heat on the jet's path.

That has now opened up the possibility that a bomb on board, or an explosion in a fuel tank or engine as the result of a mechanical failure, caused the plane to come down.

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