Malaysian airlines plane shot down over Ukraine

[Thumpalumpacus]

I'm surprised that they'd route an airliner over an active civil war, which is what the situation there is essentially. Setting aside for the moment any possible threat from either combatant side, the fact that you'd be severely limiting your options in the event of an in-flight emergency make this a case of extremely bad judgement, it seems to me.

The Ukrainians never assumed at the rebels would never get their hands upon a modern, powerful anti-aircraft missile.

Why they thought that when the Russians have already been providing the rebels with weapons is beyond me.

I'm sure the Ukrainians knew fully well that the rebels would be well-stocked from Russian depots. My comment was regarding the airline's routing decision. Any war zone mean that you will by necessity losing a good portion of alternate landing sites in the event of a civil mechanical emergency.

I said, nor intended to say, anything about Ukrainian assumptions at all.

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It is not so trivial to reroute airliners from well established flight routes. There are safety trade offs such as increased fuel consumption and diminished fuel margins, unfamiliarity of both pilots and ground controllers to new routes, unfamiliarity with emergency alternate landing sites, reduced ability to monitor air traffic from ground, increased congestion and chances of mid air collisions in other flight routes.

Understood -- and those are indeed serious concerns. At least three of them, though, pertain as well to flying over a combat environment. The three which don't -- fuel margins, congestion, and mid-air collisions -- are 1) amenable to fueling stops outside the combat zone; 2) not so much an issue once away from hubs; and 3) a concern at least as unlikely as being hit by a deliberately-aimed missile. Considering the lucre on the table in the event of a lawsuit, rerouting looks like a cost-effective measure, it seems to me.

<edited as obsolete in light of your latest post>