108 Leading Aids Researchers on board Malaysian jet

[stomachmonkey]

Wow.

I have no words.

A tragedy whose real death toll may far exceed the souls lost on board.

From Twitter: The News Unfolds Of The AIDS Figures On Flight MH17 : Goats and Soda : NPR

[craigster59]

I heard that this morning. The top echelon of AIDS researchers going to a conference in Australia. What sucks even more is I'm already hearing the conspiracy theorists yammering about it, saying the researchers were the intended target.

[Iciclehead]

Such a bad disease....saddens me to hear this.

Dennis

[Arizona_928]

If they have been shooting down "cargo planes" at that altitude for days prior and you send a passenger airliner through...?

[Tobra]

This will be so devastating to AIDS research

Originally Posted by AZ_porschekid

If they have been shooting down "cargo planes" at that altitude for days prior and you send a passenger airliner through...?

This is what I am thinking too.

[widgeon13]

Unfortunate, but they were no better than the all the other souls on board.

[Baz]

Originally Posted by widgeon13

Unfortunate, but they were no better than the all the other souls on board.

No one is saying that.

We mourn everyone equally.

But the significance of the destruction of intellectual value as it pertains to AIDS is worth noting.

As I watched the news last night and they showed some of the passengers - their names - their faces - where they were going and why....very sad. Families that will never be the same.

[ossiblue]

Originally Posted by AZ_porschekid

If they have been shooting down "cargo planes" at that altitude for days prior and you send a passenger airliner through...?

The had not been shooting down cargo planes at that altitude. All aircraft shot down previously were flying at much lower altitudes and were downed by shoulder mounted rocket launchers (MANPADS). The air space where MH 17 was downed was restricted in that aircraft must fly above altitudes of 32,000 feet, giving approximately a 10,000 foot buffer in the ceiling of shoulder mounter rockets. Not saying Malaysian Air made a wise decision, but prior incidents of aircraft being downed did not take into account the use of SAM-11 missile systems as none had been employed in the conflict up to that point.