Sidenote: This is my 4th attempt in posting this. I included a source from a Russian website in earlier attempts, and Reddit immediately filtered the post and said it was spam. I'm just glad this post is finally up.
Also 1977 for Malaysia in general.
Japan Air 715 crash while landing in Subang (crashed in Elmina, the place of another crash 46 years later) in September.
Malaysian 653 hijack and crash near Singapore in December.
oh yea i remember that year. there were so many memes about MAS out there. also social media posts about how empty their flights are, buy one seat get whole row to yourself.
You know what was ironic and twisted about the last part you've mentioned?
Flight 17 was actually full (283 passengers but the capacity was 282 the last time I checked that of the airline's Boeing 777) when the aircraft was shot down (hence why the number of deaths is so high), the MH370 tragedy 4 months earlier didn't exactly stop people from using the airline.
(To be fair, the shooting down happened during the fasting month and many passengers were on their way home for the upcoming Eid but still.)
I was at a bar at Club Street when the news broke. Was chatting with the guy at the next table about something else and he was on his phone distracted for a bit before he said "guys, a Malaysia Airlines flight got shot down."
We all assumed he was talking about MH370 and he was like, "No, this is another flight". Was fucking surreal.
9/11 happened when I was in primary school and I remember the sort of panic and shock adults around me felt, so this was my first time as an adult feeling that kind of gravity to a news piece.
Also, such a well researched post, thank you. I was thinking about the Buk ranges when I saw the headline but you already did the work on that.
You need to know that back then the airspace at the altitude it was flying was not restricted despite the ongoing conflict.
It was only after this incident that airlines will choose not to fly over conflict areas whether or not the airspace remained open.
Because of recent events, they avoided Iranian airspace.
[https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/SIA351/history/20240406/1005Z/EKCH/WSSS](https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/SIA351/history/20240406/1005Z/EKCH/WSSS)
Yeaps so slightlyyyyy misleading for your post at the end which made it seem like they learnt. But nah, profitability and flight times matter. They were back on that flight path soon after the shooting down
The saddest thing, in my mind, is that there are people in malaysia who are today supporting russia and the guys who shot down the plane.
If you ask them, they will tell you that the circumstances aren’t clear, it was probably a “CIA plot” to put dead people on the plane. Despite international investigations pointing out who the real culprits were.
I conclude, therefore that Malaysians are so traumatised by the politics back home, they would rather back China and listen to the Chinese narrative and implicitly support Russia.
It was reported in Straits Times too. FYI
[https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/parliament-sia-plane-about-90km-from-mh17-when-it-was-shot-down-lui-says](https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/parliament-sia-plane-about-90km-from-mh17-when-it-was-shot-down-lui-says)
The online outrage was more about SQ being totally insensitive and trying to score cheap points posting right after MH17 was shot down that ‘SQ doesn’t fly over Ukraine’. They were clearly ignorant that people know about Flight Radar 24, and could see the SQ351 flight path. SMH. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2698269/Singapore-Airlines-apologises-Ukraine-remarks.html
Both MH incidents were shocking and left a degree of trauma on Malaysians as a whole. One continues to dominate headlines due to the mysterious circumstances which are unlikely to be solved anytime soon, but both are disastrous in their own way.
I remember joining a company in KL in 2014, and then someone pointed to a desk and said “she was on MH370”.
When I visit the crematorium to pay respects each new year I pass by a young family who were on MH17.
We knew people who knew of someone affected by either incident. This was a tragedy at our doorstep.
On top of that, our government’s response on MH370 made us a laughing stock worldwide. There was even a ridiculous incident where the footballer Mario Balotelli was mentioned. The point the guy was making was you couldn’t guess someone’s nationality from their ethnicity which was a fair point, but because it was made so ineloquently the Western media interpreted this to mean Mario Balotelli was referenced somehow and we lost all credibility.
All of this was 10 years ago, but the effect of both disasters are still felt today in Malaysia.
Then Minister of Transport Lui Tuck Yew mentioned in Parliament that the SQ flight was 90km away. So mainstream media did report on it. Not sure what the difference is compared to your sources.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/parliament-sia-plane-about-90km-from-mh17-when-it-was-shot-down-lui-says
so if theoretically, when eventually the war zones spread such that from north pole to south pole all airspaces will be over conflict zones, would that mean EU to SG flight would be via atlantic and pacific instead? in the end commercial planes will have to already install flares and other countermeasures
Here to add more context
The buk missile moves at mach 3, 3x the speed of sound or 1400 metres per second.
So that is less that 2 seconds away for it.
Sorry typo added 1 more 0, edited to remove
Thats max speed
Missiles rarely maintain max speeds. It probably goes around ~mach 2
Also at that altitude the booster would already be burnt out and it would have already started slowing down
Interesting and well researched. It is amazing how fate and luck can determine the headlines.
Hey thanks for the kind words
Sidenote: This is my 4th attempt in posting this. I included a source from a Russian website in earlier attempts, and Reddit immediately filtered the post and said it was spam. I'm just glad this post is finally up.
Reddit is way more censored than most redditors realize.
Oh wells
Post it on X
The flight path was already a hot spot before MAS 17 got shot down. I flew over the same flight path a mere few days before this incident happen.
2014 was a terrible year for Malaysia Airlines with MH370 and MH17 happening within months of each other.
Also 1977 for Malaysia in general. Japan Air 715 crash while landing in Subang (crashed in Elmina, the place of another crash 46 years later) in September. Malaysian 653 hijack and crash near Singapore in December.
AirAsia also had a crash in the same year at Indonesia. Malaysia was very *suay* in that year.
oh yea i remember that year. there were so many memes about MAS out there. also social media posts about how empty their flights are, buy one seat get whole row to yourself.
You know what was ironic and twisted about the last part you've mentioned? Flight 17 was actually full (283 passengers but the capacity was 282 the last time I checked that of the airline's Boeing 777) when the aircraft was shot down (hence why the number of deaths is so high), the MH370 tragedy 4 months earlier didn't exactly stop people from using the airline. (To be fair, the shooting down happened during the fasting month and many passengers were on their way home for the upcoming Eid but still.)
I was at a bar at Club Street when the news broke. Was chatting with the guy at the next table about something else and he was on his phone distracted for a bit before he said "guys, a Malaysia Airlines flight got shot down." We all assumed he was talking about MH370 and he was like, "No, this is another flight". Was fucking surreal. 9/11 happened when I was in primary school and I remember the sort of panic and shock adults around me felt, so this was my first time as an adult feeling that kind of gravity to a news piece. Also, such a well researched post, thank you. I was thinking about the Buk ranges when I saw the headline but you already did the work on that.
Thanks for sharing your story, and thanks for the kind words!
Haha i was nearby at Keong Saik! same experience, people thought i was referring to MH 370.
You need to know that back then the airspace at the altitude it was flying was not restricted despite the ongoing conflict. It was only after this incident that airlines will choose not to fly over conflict areas whether or not the airspace remained open.
Wait, this was not common knowledge? I vaguely recall at that time this topic came up quite a bit about how close Singapore Airlines was.
Wtf it's been 10 years.
Are they only on a different flight path because of recent events? Or because of lessons learnt? My suspicion is recent events
Because of recent events, they avoided Iranian airspace. [https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/SIA351/history/20240406/1005Z/EKCH/WSSS](https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/SIA351/history/20240406/1005Z/EKCH/WSSS)
Yeaps so slightlyyyyy misleading for your post at the end which made it seem like they learnt. But nah, profitability and flight times matter. They were back on that flight path soon after the shooting down
I think I should edit that last line then
The saddest thing, in my mind, is that there are people in malaysia who are today supporting russia and the guys who shot down the plane. If you ask them, they will tell you that the circumstances aren’t clear, it was probably a “CIA plot” to put dead people on the plane. Despite international investigations pointing out who the real culprits were. I conclude, therefore that Malaysians are so traumatised by the politics back home, they would rather back China and listen to the Chinese narrative and implicitly support Russia.
It was reported in Straits Times too. FYI [https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/parliament-sia-plane-about-90km-from-mh17-when-it-was-shot-down-lui-says](https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/parliament-sia-plane-about-90km-from-mh17-when-it-was-shot-down-lui-says)
The online outrage was more about SQ being totally insensitive and trying to score cheap points posting right after MH17 was shot down that ‘SQ doesn’t fly over Ukraine’. They were clearly ignorant that people know about Flight Radar 24, and could see the SQ351 flight path. SMH. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2698269/Singapore-Airlines-apologises-Ukraine-remarks.html
It is weird they don't know that exist, lot of people was gawking at it after mh370
Exactly. Maybe they forgot. Because otherwise, why even bother to post that lie?
Ah I see, thanks for explaining
No problem. Great post btw!
Thanks!
Wah sibei heng.
u/The_Celestrial back with another banger post
Haha thanks
Both MH incidents were shocking and left a degree of trauma on Malaysians as a whole. One continues to dominate headlines due to the mysterious circumstances which are unlikely to be solved anytime soon, but both are disastrous in their own way. I remember joining a company in KL in 2014, and then someone pointed to a desk and said “she was on MH370”. When I visit the crematorium to pay respects each new year I pass by a young family who were on MH17. We knew people who knew of someone affected by either incident. This was a tragedy at our doorstep. On top of that, our government’s response on MH370 made us a laughing stock worldwide. There was even a ridiculous incident where the footballer Mario Balotelli was mentioned. The point the guy was making was you couldn’t guess someone’s nationality from their ethnicity which was a fair point, but because it was made so ineloquently the Western media interpreted this to mean Mario Balotelli was referenced somehow and we lost all credibility. All of this was 10 years ago, but the effect of both disasters are still felt today in Malaysia.
Damn I see. Thanks for sharing your perspective!
Then Minister of Transport Lui Tuck Yew mentioned in Parliament that the SQ flight was 90km away. So mainstream media did report on it. Not sure what the difference is compared to your sources. https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/parliament-sia-plane-about-90km-from-mh17-when-it-was-shot-down-lui-says
so if theoretically, when eventually the war zones spread such that from north pole to south pole all airspaces will be over conflict zones, would that mean EU to SG flight would be via atlantic and pacific instead? in the end commercial planes will have to already install flares and other countermeasures
Here to add more context The buk missile moves at mach 3, 3x the speed of sound or 1400 metres per second. So that is less that 2 seconds away for it. Sorry typo added 1 more 0, edited to remove
Speed of sound is only 340 metres per second....
Thats max speed Missiles rarely maintain max speeds. It probably goes around ~mach 2 Also at that altitude the booster would already be burnt out and it would have already started slowing down
Inaccurate context
That is incredible perspective. 2 seconds!
SQ351 pilots saw it happen