Pilots Over Ukraine Report Flash In Sky
[Original headline: El Al, Ukrainian pilots report missile flash]
"The El Al flight 'missile/flash' incident on July 4, 2002
Dear Sir, Regarding the incident with El Al flight on July 4, 2002 associated with "missile/flash" over Ukraine, I would like to attract your attention that there could be natural explanation for this.
1) a meteoroidal bolide, if the trajectory was downwards; 2) a little known and poorly understood geophysical phenomenon which I investigate for number of years and prefer to call it a "geophysical meteor". It looks like a large high speed ball-lightning, and can produce bright flash. You can read about it in English (including my letter published in AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY a few years ago) in: http://www.geocities.com/olkhov/awst1.htm or a copy: http://olkhov.narod.ru/awst1.htm.
Unfortunately, I have limited geophysical (meteorological) data associated with the event (also no exact time, no exact position), but what I have seems to be favourable for appearence of such phenomenon.
But of course, it is a preliminary thought - for more solid conclusion I need detailed description of the event and geophysical data from the region of the event +- 24 hours around the time of the event.
Sincerely,
Andrei Ol΄khovatov, PhD
Russia, Moscow
www.geocities.com/olkhov
The pilot of an El Al flight from Tel Aviv to Moscow reported seeing a surface-to-air missile explosion as he flew over Ukraine on Thursday, Israel's transport minister said on Friday. The report - officially denied by Ukrainian sources - seemed to be confirmed by the pilot of a Ukrainian plane who also reported seeing a flash in the sky.
Transport Minister Ephraim Sneh said the Israeli plane was never in danger and voiced doubt it had come under attack.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said Ukraine had not conducted any missile launches since accidentally downing a Russian airliner on a flight last October from Tel Aviv to Novosibirsk in Siberia, killing 78 passengers and crew.
Sneh said he had spoken at length with the El Al pilot, whom he described as an experienced combat veteran of the Israeli air force.
"There is no doubt that he saw a missile that exploded in the air, apparently far from the plane," Sneh told Army Radio. "Circumstances suggest it was not launched at the El Al plane."
Reports of the purported missile launch followed an attack at an El Al counter at Los Angeles airport in which a gunman killed two people before security guards shot him dead.
The Ukrainian government said the military had not fired a missile. "At that time there was no military training with shooting in Ukraine," Defense Ministry spokesman Kostiantyn Khivrenko said. "Nobody shot even from cannons and automatic rifles, not only in that direction, but in all Ukraine."
Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma said that since an errant missile shot down a Sibir Airlines plan over his country on Oct 4, killing all 78 passengers, most of them immigrants to Israel, "all missile exercises in Ukraine have been banned." Kuchma was speaking during a trip to Copenhagen, Denmark.
Amos Shapira, El Al's managing director, told Army Radio: "The pilot saw a flash...It was at least 10 to 100 miles (16 to 160 km) away. The plane was in no danger."
Story originally published by:
Ha'aretz / Israel - July 05.02
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