[iup=3513838]Somebody Else's Problem[/iup] wrote:[iup=3513448]Poser[/iup] wrote:[iup=3513447]Alvin Flummux[/iup] wrote:Can you differentiate between a passenger jet and a military cargo plane from 30-40,000 feet away?
Experts said at the time that it was basically impossible.
Surely that's exactly what Secondary Radar (or IFF in military terms) does? I know British anti-air systems use the squawk code to identify civilian or military aircraft, as military aircraft operate in special IFF modes.
Sorry, to clarify, I misread Alvin's question and inserted the words 'the naked eye'. There was an aviation guy on 5Live on the afternoon it happened saying that to someone on the ground, any plane would basically be a speck with vapour trails.
But yeah, if they used tech, they should have known/checked. Of course, this assumes they knew how to use the tech they clearly had at their disposal.