In the wake of the downing of a Russian bomber along the Turkey-Syria border on Tuesday, many were demanding answers. In a letter to the United Nations Security Council, the Turkish ambassador gave his government’s view of the incident.
"This morning (24 November) 2 SU-24 planes, the nationality of which are unknown have approached Turkish national airspace in Yayladagi/Hatay region. The planes in question have been warned 10 times during a period of 5 minutes via 'Emergency' channel and asked to change their headings south immediately," the letter, obtained by Wikileaks, reads.
"Disregarding these warnings, both planes, at an altitude of 19,000 feet, violated Turkish national airspace to a depth of 1.36 miles and 1.15 miles in length for 17 seconds from 9.24.05 local time."
But many social media users have begun crunching those numbers and found that they don’t quite add up.
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) November 24, 2015
When calculating the distance flown and the amount of time allegedly spent in Turkish airspace, some have attempted to determine the aircraft’s flight speed. According to those numbers, the Su-24 would have had to be flying at stall speed.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Russian Ministry of Defense also released video proving that the incident did not happen the way the Turkish government claims. Flight path data of the Su-24 shows that it never entered Turkish airspace, and was attacked while flying over Syria.
— Dejan Prekovic (@PrekoD) November 24, 2015
— Wilson Tenney (@tinyw10e) November 24, 2015
— Christopher Justice (@CopenhagenCrit) November 24, 2015
The bomber was shot down by two Turkish F-16s Tuesday morning. One of the pilots has been confirmed dead by Russian authorities, shot by rebel ground units after ejecting.
Russian President Vladimir Putin described the incident as a "stab in the back, carried out against us by accomplices of terrorists."
