North Korean plane crashes in China

rhino123 said:

What you say makes sense... however the crash site was around 200km into Chinese territory. That is plenty of distance covered and not a single interception. Not even a single shot fired at the enemy's aircraft... which is seriously kind of weird. And if the Chinese had actually detected this fighter... how long do you reckon they would need to scramble some jets to intercept it?

If the aircraft detected are actually civilian aircraft and the chinese deduced that the threat level is low, then it might be alright. But this is a fighter... and on a fighter, there might have live missiles... and who know if the intent are actually to just stray in or with more malicious intent.

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Also, civillian aircraft coming out of North Korea into China are few and far between...

The crashed plane looked pretty much intact, which indicate it crashed at low speed, possible at landing speed, an indication that the pilot was still alive and in control just before the crash.

And if the pilot lost consciousness and ran out of fuel, what is the chance of a MIG-21 slowed down and glided to gound, or will it nose dived to ground? (which obvious did not happened).

Anyone with knowlege care to enlighten us? This will give some hint whether the pilot was defecting or lost consciouness.

Lips and teeth. You guys underestimate the historical friendship between China and NK.

AssassinsMace said:

Are you still sticking to the story that he was on full afterburners. I don't think he can make that trip 730 miles away doing that.

How does anyone know he was defecting? The guy is dead. Did he notify someone before he took off? If he did that then why not notify South Korea and have ship waiting off-shore so he can ditch his fighter and they can pull him out? Why Russia? Did Kim teach his people that Russia was some Shangri-la? That couldn't be possible because the North Koreans are taught very little about the outside world and they live in heaven now. I know that's the story from South Korea because they don't want to make it look China was the destination since the guy didn't choose them first as a better choice to live. So many easier choices but he took the hardest one and on top of that costed him his life.

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I'm guessing the pilot had very little knowledge of his fuel state; the Soviet-style GCI system means that a ground controller pretty much guides the aircraft from takeoff to landing. That means a ground controller will doing all of the fuel calculations, and the pilot has to just verify how much fuel he has onboard to the controller, who then makes the decisions as to what to do. So, the pilot isn't likely to have a very good understanding of fuel management (all he would pretty much know is that he only has a certain amount of fuel left, and he was running out); he may know some basic navigation (flying a certain heading, etc), and combat tactics, but very little beyond that. This is not like a Western style pilot, who would know a fair bit on fuel management, navigation, other technical skills that would make him a lot more independent than a Soviet-style pilot.

I doubt the pilot had ways of contacting the outside world; the North Koreans do their best to restrict access and contact to the outside world, and if caught, face a lifetime in a gulag. He probably knew from rumours that going to China was a bad idea because they would probably return him, and he probably knew enough from flying near the border and from rumours that the outside world could offer a better life.

RedMercury said:

Lips and teeth. You guys underestimate the historical friendship between China and NK.

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Then why is the 38th Group Army posted right next to the Yalu River?

Skywatcher said:

Then why is the 38th Group Army posted right next to the Yalu River?

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Contingency in case something bad should happen in NK.

Pointblank said:

I doubt the pilot had ways of contacting the outside world; the North Koreans do their best to restrict access and contact to the outside world, and if caught, face a lifetime in a gulag. He probably knew from rumours that going to China was a bad idea because they would probably return him, and he probably knew enough from flying near the border and from rumours that the outside world could offer a better life.

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Then how does anyone know he was defecting and going to Russia? It sounds absurd to think he can make it to Russia illegally flying over China escpecially when his supposed escape path would've taken him near some cities.

AssassinsMace said:

Then how does anyone know he was defecting and going to Russia? It sounds absurd to think he can make it to Russia illegally flying over China escpecially when his supposed escape path would've taken him near some cities.

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It would make perfect sense to be flying over populated areas in a defection attempt. If he knew that his fuel state is questionable, and there is a possibility that he would be forced to bail out or make a emergency landing, he would want to be near where people lived so he could take his chances at being rescued rather than being stranded in the middle of nowhere.

Skywatcher said:

Then why is the 38th Group Army posted right next to the Yalu River?

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would be a good question cept it isnt posted right next to the yalu river

Pointblank said:

It would make perfect sense to be flying over populated areas in a defection attempt. If he knew that his fuel state is questionable, and there is a possibility that he would be forced to bail out or make a emergency landing, he would want to be near where people lived so he could take his chances at being rescued rather than being stranded in the middle of nowhere.

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I thought he was defecting to Russia. Now he wants to be seen over Chinese cities in his attempt to get over to Russia just in case he needs to bail out?