Colombian Air Force T-27 shoots down a GA aircraft carrying drugs

[MiloMorai]

I know that... why do I need to google search that, it's in the title.  

Google Search for the weapons carried by the T-27.

[MachFly]

Do American cops shoot at fleeing cars?

I hope not.
Even if they do they shoot the car so it would stop, not to kill the occupants.

[rogwar]

These are not police activities.

[PFactorDave]

Is carrying drugs really a good reason to kill someone? Especially if they are unarmed and not a threat to you.

Of course it is.  How many lives are lost or ruined by the drugs that planes like that smuggle into our country.

[PFactorDave]

I hope not.
Even if they do they shoot the car so it would stop, not to kill the occupants.

You watch too much TV.  Police officers are trained to shoot center mass to kill, not to disable.  Anytime a police officer fires his weapon he is shooting to kill the suspect because he believes that the target may kill him (the officer) or an innocent bystander.

[ElectricOne]

Google Search for the weapons carried by the T-27.

Could you google search for me please? I will even post a link for you: http://lmgtfy.com/ (hint: not much info is available...)

PS Please don't base your replies on people's post count in the future...

[Shifty]

I know but how hard is it to shoot down a non maneuvering aircraft? Personally I never tried but looking at the thousands of pilots from WWII this should be very easy. I can understand you can miss on the first pass, but 5 passes??    

The film was real life not a game. Both aircraft are manuvering low over a dense jungle. There was real danger real Gs and real fear. You can bet if the T-27 pilot hit the trees he wasn't going to up from another base and kill the guy before he could land. The guy has probably never fired a shot in anger his whole and possibly never even fired and a moving target before. If he heard computer flight sim hotshots were critical of his skills he'd be the one posting a face palm.

[MachFly]

The film was real life not a game. Both aircraft are manuvering low over a dense jungle. There was real danger real Gs and real fear. You can bet if the T-27 pilot hit the trees he wasn't going to up from another base and kill the guy before he could land. The guy has probably never fired a shot in anger his whole and possibly never even fired and a moving target before. If he heard computer flight sim hotshots were critical of his skills he'd be the one posting a face palm.

I am not comparing it to a game but to WWII. The reason I compare it to WWII is because you have two propeller driven aircraft using guns.
I see no reasons to pull Gs as the aircraft was flying straight & level, fear is not an acceptable excuse. And why would you be afraid of an aircraft that is unarmed. You mentioned that he never fired a shot in anger, what would anger have anything to do with it? You are assigned a mission, why would you be angry?

If he heard computer flight sim hotshots were critical of his skills he'd be the one posting a face palm.

What makes you think I just fly sims? Certainly I never shot anyone down, but trust me I do a lot more than sims.

[MachFly]

You watch too much TV.  Police officers are trained to shoot center mass to kill, not to disable.  Anytime a police officer fires his weapon he is shooting to kill the suspect because he believes that the target may kill him (the officer) or an innocent bystander.

Well I would not know, I'm not a cop and I don't spend much time with cops. But I assume shooting to kill an un-armed person would be a last resort.

[ElectricOne]

Of course it is.  How many lives are lost or ruined by the drugs that planes like that smuggle into our country.

This might be getting too much into politics, so I don't think I want to talk about this in details, but the counter point is that they are not killing anyone directly. All they are doing is transporting something illegal for the purpose (I guess) of making money (not to kill anyone.)

[mechanic]

The ignorance demonstrated in the thread astounds me.

[rogwar]

The ignorance demonstrated in the thread astounds me.

Finally

I'll drink to to that!



Have any of you considered that maybe he had a perked plane?  now for the face palm.


I can only hope some of these comments are from young people. Spend some time in the bush with folks like hard working honest Colombians trying to help them take their country back and you would certainly see things differently.

[Flipperk]

I am not comparing it to a game but to WWII. The reason I compare it to WWII is because you have two propeller driven aircraft using guns.
I see no reasons to pull Gs as the aircraft was flying straight & level, fear is not an acceptable excuse. And why would you be afraid of an aircraft that is unarmed. You mentioned that he never fired a shot in anger, what would anger have anything to do with it? You are assigned a mission, why would you be angry?



What makes you think I just fly sims? Certainly I never shot anyone down, but trust me I do a lot more than sims.

First off, look at the video that aircraft was anything BUT straight and level. That country side is hilly and I bet you he was going up and down a couple of hundred feet while doing sharp s-turns.

Second these pilots probably do not have much training in close air combat, so this is their training on the job so to speak. MOST WWII pilots were terrible shots, have you seen combat video from WWII? Most shots are actually missing, and by a lot too. WWII pilots were good, but only a few were as good as your thinking.

Third, as being broadcast over frequency the T27 was having a hard time keeping up with the aircraft, which adds difficulty to the situation at hand.


From what I heard they got the aircraft down in ~7 miles from first engagement, which is quite ok.

[MachFly]

First off, look at the video that aircraft was anything BUT straight and level. That country side is hilly and I bet you he was going up and down a couple of hundred feet while doing sharp s-turns.

Most of the flight was straight in level, he did a few 10° turn, but he could have been maneuvering a lot more.

Second these pilots probably do not have much training in close air combat, so this is their training on the job so to speak. MOST WWII pilots were terrible shots, have you seen combat video from WWII? Most shots are actually missing, and by a lot too. WWII pilots were good, but only a few were as good as your thinking.

I have to agree about the training (but that just my opinion, I don't know the facts).
Yes most shots fired in WWII did miss however I don't think 5 passes was a common thing.

Third, as being broadcast over frequency the T27 was having a hard time keeping up with the aircraft, which adds difficulty to the situation at hand.


From what I heard they got the aircraft down in ~7 miles from first engagement, which is quite ok.

I don't know what is considered good regarding distance. However I think it should be measured in time not distance, because distance varies with speed. Now I'm not saying that they took too long to shoot him down, I'm just surprised that it took him 5 passes.

[rogwar]

Second these pilots probably do not have much training in close air combat, so this is their training on the job so to speak.

That's incorrect. Very well trained by a major western nation to high standards of performance.