I’m not going to travel any further down this logical road, for I would have to quickly get too detailed as to how a fanatic might pull off such an atrocity.

That you can’t see how it could be done… I accept that.

Most of humanity would be in your camp.

However, there will be some clever fanatics out there who are capable of coming up with a gambit.

I give you 9-11. Had it not been done, there is no way in Hell that it would be accepted as a supposition. Indeed, we have Truthers running around even at this hour.

========

RPGs were NOT perceived as a threat to low flying aircraft/ helicopters — until Mogadishu. Those fellows were elite, had been trained to the highest standard. THEY were shocked.

Military helicopters can flit all over — in every direction — yet they were being shot up by hopped up militiamen.

Jumbo jets are about as steady as a locomotive on rails. FAT targets.

It take it as a given that the zones around all landing and takeoffs have been expanded since 9-11 — worldwide.

RPGs are as cheap as Chicklets, particularly ex-Libyan RPGs. They don’t require ANY sophistication/ bomb maker/ master armer.

Multiple eyewitnesses insisted that something flew up from the ocean/ small craft into the plane.

Detonating an on board bomb just as it was taking off is weird. All prior known plots involved bombs set for the deep ocean skies — typically multi-plane atrocities.

The point of impact is e x a c t l y where a fanatic would place his cross hairs — the fattest part of a fat target. What a co-incidence.

It should have been explored. I’ll bet the experts thought exactly like you… and dismissed the possibility out of hand.

Since 9-11 the authorities have picked up and broken up quite a few attempts to blow up jumbo jets. AQ is obsessed with re-creating the atrocity on a larger scale.

Any further ‘successes’ by the fanatics would likely cause a sequence of harsh measures that would cut off all food deliveries to the ummah. Unlike WWII, no naval campaigns would be required.

But instead of using a devil’s proof concerning the actual incident, we can use Hempel’s Ravens for this.

By judging and looking at all current and future terrorist attacks, we can see whether it is possible for them to use rpgs or not. Because if it worked once, why not again and again? Especially if there are no defenses against it. Thus far from proving an impossibility, we are thus slowly gathering relevant proof from other incidents that support the relevant concept.

A jumbo jet is a massive target — a flying barn door it is.

Having just come off a JFK runway, its flight profile would be predictable in the extreme.

There are NO end of practice planes to clock prior to the magic moment.

By that point in time, laser range finders were widely available even in the construction industry. (I still have my Hilti.) These would give you the height of a climbing jumbo to the nearest 0.25″ — if it was still.

The use of RPGs by Somali fanatics had just occurred in the early 90s. Such a gambit begs for imitation.

RPGs are cheaper than Chicklets. So much so, that many a practice run is affordable.

The Duck of Death handed them out like door prizes or sales spiffs… right along with AK-74s.

A ManPad would’ve gone straight for the ENGINES.

The NTSB conclusion would cause us to expect falling jumbos like they were Space Shuttles.

The use of tracer would be consistent with obtaining video proof of an atrocity, something that is plainly important to fanatics. See Youtube.

It’s a possibility that should’ve been seriously pursued. After Blackhawk shoot-downs in Mogadishu… Clinton & Co had every reason to bury the idea.

You can be certain that the relevant waters are now forbidden to pleasure craft.

Likewise extensive security zones have been established all around sensitive sites — just about everywhere — since 9-11.

To the Left, guns are useful. But only for certain people.

IMO it’s simple really. The non-black is always the oppressor and always at fault (directly or indirectly) while the black “victim” is never at fault. With these posts, Mitsu joins the faculty and administration of Duke “University” who excoriate on the basis of narrative. Facts be damned.

At this point, Mitsu is revealing his prejudicial colors. He is assigning the agency of a wild aggressive animal to Martin rather than a human being. Martin was a thug, but I still assign him the agency of a human being.

On the other hand, the question is begged:

If, as Mitsu contends, Zimmerman’s mere act of stepping out of his vehicle was indeed sufficient to provoke Martin to attack Zimmerman in a manner justifying self defense, then just how dangerous was Martin on the day he died?

Other than wild aggressive animals, I can only think of someone hopped up on bad PCP being as helplessly violent as Mitsu portrays Martin.