Could fighters shoot down a large passenger plane?

With all these commercial passenger planes being escorted by fighters because of bomb threats or whatever else, I was wondering if a fighter could actually shoot down a large commercial airliner if they ever had to.

Would a fighter jet pilot would know how to shoot down the plane if it ever came down to that. - Would they know how many missiles they would need?

Would more than one missile be needed to effectively take the aircraft out of action?

Does the pilot get trained about going about this type of mission?



[edit on 28/9/04 by Hyperen]

Originally posted by Hyperen
With all these commercial passenger planes being escorted by fighters because of bomb threats or whatever else, I was wondering if a fighter could actually shoot down a large commercial airliner if they ever had to.

Would a fighter jet pilot would know how to shoot down the plane if it ever came down to that. - Would they know how many missiles they would need?

Would more than one missile be needed to effectively take the aircraft out of action?

Does the pilot get trained about going about this type of mission?



[edit on 28/9/04 by Hyperen]

be just like shooting down a military transport craft just a lot less armoured or as fast.
one missile depends , if its in the main section no bother. if its the engine then mabye , it could ignite the fuel and make a fireball. or you could just use guns and kill the pilots. OR just blow up the engines.
yes exsactly the same training for takeing down supply planes.

That would be no problem, it would take 2 missiles at most, but probably only 1. And if its terrorist and you have around 100 miles till they get to there city they want the plane to crash into then just pull your fighter behind them and depending on how many engines the passenger plane has shoot at them with the gun, like if they have four engines then shoot at the 2 clostest to the wing tips, knock them down to about 1 or 2 engines and hopefully it will glide back to earth unless the passengers havn't got controll of it yet and the terrorist flip it upside down and plumet towards the ground.

One AIM-9 would take out not just an engine but the entire wing...

And a passenger jet with only one wing will make it only as far as the crash site...

Intelgurl

Passenger planes are pretty much like flying beer cans. They're not rugged, but they're reliable. Most civilian and military aircraft even, don't like pressure being applied in the wrong places. One strut can withstand 50 kPa of pressure (stress) and yet if you tug on it (strain) the thing comes apart. Happened with the XB-70's boundary layer splitter, when there was a sudden downward force on that part of the fuselage. Blowing off a wing will cause a civvie (heck, any) plane to roll untrollably, lose its other wing and probably break up the fuselage as well. Fighter planes can handle damage really well because (a) they're built to be tough, especially Navy planes and (b) have lifting area and control power way above the requirement for regular flying. Heard about an F-15 that came back with half of a wing missing.

Sad that we have to worry about such ting now a days.......but yes a one second burst from a gun could easily take down a passenger plane.

As for training besides maybe a scicological training nonoe is really needed

Would a fighter jet pilot would know how to shoot down the plane if it ever came down to that. - Would they know how many missiles they would need?

Absolutely, its a simple matter of understanding what keeps aircraft airborne. 20mm cannons would work just fine, as well as missiles. Some say this is what happened to Flight 93 which went down in Shanksville, PA on 9/11/01.

Mayor of Shanksville: "I know of two people - I will not mention names - that heard a missile," Stuhl said. "They both live very close, within a couple of hundred yards. . .This one fellow's served in Vietnam and he says he's heard them, and he heard one that day." The mayor adds that based on what he knows about that morning, military F-16 fighter jets were "very, very close."

www.flight93crash.com...

I heard that it was an F-18 involved - which piqued my interest. Could have been a Navy aircraft? Hard to confuse with an F-16, I would have thought.

If some person with a couple of pounds of explosives strapped to there body, can take down a passenger plane, then I'm willing to be a air to air missle can do the same.

Also, hasn't this happened before? It's very vague in my mind, but it seems like a passenger plane was shot down by someone(like Russia or China) by accident. I'm almost positive one was shot down, although it might not a have been a fighter jet, but a SAM site. I'll try looking around for it.

I thought this had happened before, and a Soviet interceptor did shoot down a Korean 747 on Sept. 1, 1983.

www.nostalgiacentral.com...

Originally posted by cubiehole
I thought this had happened before, and a Soviet interceptor did shoot down a Korean 747 on Sept. 1, 1983.

www.nostalgiacentral.com...

You beat me to it. What a horrible tragedy that was.

I remember that on the news. (I am getting old!)

Why don't they have shut off's some where at the airports for certain planes that would Shut off the Fuel from going to the engines if the planes are ever headed off course so far. Every plane in the sky has a navigation system on it the size of about 10 computers if thye do not have room for additions like this someone inside is not doing it for a reaosn. Maybe so people can HIjack planes easier.

I was pretty young then, so I don't remember it happening, but I remember some movie about it. I think it was like HBO made movie or something.

Accually a thermometer full of mercury can bring down a passenger plane, it rusts away at aluminum and the skin of a plane is very thin so a structural failure could occure in 15-30 minutes. That is why only approved people are allowed to carry such devices.

With no EW chaffs or defences, methinks it would be an easy kill

Originally posted by roniii259
Accually a thermometer full of mercury can bring down a passenger plane, it rusts away at aluminum and the skin of a plane is very thin so a structural failure could occure in 15-30 minutes. That is why only approved people are allowed to carry such devices.

Good point . Popular science last month showed a Alumminum I beam with mercury poured onto it and it was int he process of disintegrating. Pretty impressive.

20mm Vulcan or any type of cannon fire into the main body of the plane the sudden loss of pressure and fire going all over the place will quickly destroy any plane. For my money i'd run accross the top wing main though the body to the other side.

But I some times wonder the gps and autopliot system can be updated from the ground, some update the waypoints and the landing system radar landing info and just lock the autoploit on ON! Sorted one plane on the tarmac or in the sea.

The reason the F3 Tornados were sent to escort them to the UK is becouse although they were in UK defense airspace the WERE not in UK civilian airspace a sudden change in direction would have # the Franch up no end! But with it becoming an RAF problem all bets are off and that's just fine!

OBTW France told the plane to sod off hence landing in the UK!