Originally Posted by
Mazster
Regarding interception...in the Payne Stewart case fighters were sent to try and identify the problem and they could see that the cockpit glass was all frozen and opaque inside, giving them a fairly good indication what the situation was. I still think it would have been worth the effort to try an intercept.
Payne Stewart: daylight.
MH370: Night.
Having flown alongside a lot of tankers at night in my career, I can tell you if the cockpit lights are low, you don't see anything.
If the lights are on high, you can barely see anything.
Originally Posted by
ATCBob
That's not really practical in a small country like Malaysia where a jet can overfly it in 15-20 minutes.....
Actually we did have intercept aircraft on alert pre-9/11. Not many, but there were always some ready. NORAD would scramble them and ATC would work them to the intercept because NORAD at the time only looked outward and didn't have our radar feeds.
Short overflight time is an excellent point.
As to the second, yes, I know that; I worked some air defense plans in the mid 90s. Unfortunately, most of our "Continental Air Defense" was more about show than reality. While a handful of jets (maybe 20-24 nationwide, by my count) might be cocked and armed at the few alert shelters we had, I don't think pilots were on 5-minute alert like you saw in 1950s Armageddon movies unless there was reason to believe a Russian attack was imminent. I would guess the response time was closer to 20-30 minutes. Unless he's on alert sitting in the cockpit, it would be generous to estimate he could get from his bed to being strapped-in under 5 minutes; 5 to start and do checks, and 5 more to taxi out. 15 just to be ready to take off.
During that time, a Mach 0.80 target has moved 120 miles.
In the final scene of "Top Gun," Val Kilmer asks Tom Cruise: "Where are you, Maverick?!?!"
Maverick, who was ordered launched by the CAG when the fight hit 100 miles, infamously replies:
"Maverick is supersonic; I'll be there in thirty seconds."
If Mav could really go 100 miles in 30 seconds, that's 200 miles a minute.
(That's Mach 20.
Twenty).
The range of fighters such as F-15s, -16s, and -18s drops precipitously when in afterburner for max-Mach pursuits.
So, while in theory a fighter could chase him down, the reality is, if not launched in a window of opportunity, he won't have enough gas to do it.