Turkey’s, Russia’s official versions of jet shoot down scientifically impossible: Physicists

and then, after it was set on fire, its engines destroyed, and the two pilots ejected, more than doubled its speed to 980 km/h, the scientists say we must assume that it was flying at about 980 km/h at the time it was hit.

So if the plane was flying at 980 km/h, it could not have been over Turkish territory for more than seven seconds, and it would have been impossible for the Turkish pilots and ground control to issue the ten warning they said they did.

Some Turkish officials, aware of the fact that issuing ten warning in seven seconds – or even seventeen seconds – is incredible, told reporters that eight or nine of the warning were actually issued over a period of five minutes, while the plane was still over Syrian territory, and that only the last one or two warning were issued while the plane was already over Turkish territory.

A plane flying at a speed of 980 km/h would cover eighty kilometers in five minutes – meaning that Turkish ground control began warning the Russian plane about not crossing into Turkey while the plane was still eighty kilometers from the Turkish border.

The two scientists find this explanation unconvincing: “How could the Turkish air force predict that the Russian jets were about to enter Turkish airspace? Military jets are very agile, and in theory the Russian jets could have turned at the last moment to avoid Turkish airspace. The warnings issued to the Russian pilots were mere speculation at the moment they were made.”

Russia’s version
Russia admits that its plane flew along the Turkish border, from east to west, but that it had made a 90 degree turn to the left (south) in order to avoid a 2-kilometer wide piece of Turkish territory jutting into Syria (the plane was shot over that small piece of land). Russia insists that the plane made a 90 degree turn south in order to avoid Turkish airspace.

The scientists reject the Russian explanation. They say that at that speed, the only way a 90 degree turn could be achieved was if the momentum of the incoming rocket was so much larger than the momentum of the jet – but since an air-to-air rocket is an order of magnitude lighter that a jet plane, the rocket’s momentum would be negligible. “A change of course of 90 degrees can only be achieved with an object that’s many times heavier or faster than the jet,” they write.

They conclude that Russia’s version, which claims that the jet was trying to avoid Turkey’s airspace, cannot be true, because at the speed the jet was flying there was no way for it, at the last minute, to avoid the 2-kilmeter wide Turkish territory extending into Syria.

The scientists conclude: “According to our calculations, it is clear that both the story of Turkey and Russia should be taken with a grain of salt. Estimates limit the violation of Turkish airspace to a maximum of 10 seconds. Russia’s claims not correspond to the laws of mechanics.”