^I don't know what was going through their minds, but I live in this area.
Prior to where the plane went down, there is the city of waynesboro va. It's a big enough residential center, that must have been a factor if a population center was involved.
Basically, if it had gone down a minutes or two's earlier, it would have taken out a Lowes, Home Depot, Kohls, Cracker Barrel, KFC, etc... etc...
It cleared Waynesboro, and went kaput into the wilderness area further south.
Much further, it would have run into lexington/buena vista. areas. It probably would have tracked west of roanoke.
As to the title of the thread- Did it get shot down? If it did, it would have gotten nailed directly over the city of Waynesboro. Somebody would have seen/reported it.
If it got nailed south of Waynesboro, Stuart's draft residents would have reported it. This plane pretty much flew over the "hershey's" plant there.
All of the beachcombers at lake sherando would have heard it.
Basically, what I am saying it this- this was not an unpopulated area. Somebody in charge was s#$%ing their pants the plane would clear the "city" of Waynesboro before it ditched in the mountains, or it was high enough they weren't concerned. I "quote" city as that is a bit of a point of interpretation
, but, this is a populated area.
Once Waynseboro gets cleared, no need in intercept unless it was pointing directly at Lexington in terms of track/descent. If Lexington not a concern, the plane would crash in farm/rural/ wooded area all the way to Blacksburg at least.
Interestingly, I was riding my bike up north of this area on sunday. I counted at least 6-8 F-16 flyovers at relatively low altitude in WV. Actually, I felt I was being "buzzed"Must have been some national guard training or something. Related to the incident? I don't know. But I felt I like I was pedaling through Ukraine. It was a bit surreal.