TWA flight 800, surface to air missles, conspiracypunks

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 9 Sep 1996 11:26:23 -0700 (PDT) From: Brock N. Meeks <brock@well.com> To: Declan McCullagh <declan@eff.org> Surface to air missles do not need to make contact to explode. They have a proximity system that explodes the missle if it gets within range. Of course, sometimes the missle does hit; there is a famous story -- documented -- of an SA-2 (an old Soviet SAM) hitting an RF-4 during Viet Nam. The missle didn't explode but stuck in the plane like a dart; the pilot flew the plane back to the airfield and was told to ditch the plane when the air traffic control noticed it stuck in his plane. -- Brock