Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, has reported that Ukrainian troops shot down a Russian Tu-22M3 bomber with a drone a few days ago.
Yeah that “shot down” headline is inaccurate if it was on the ground already.
Actually, that begs a pedantic question. When would an aircraft be “shot down” vs …whatever one would call destroyed on the ground. Is it shot down if the pilot is in the chair? If it’s moving on the tarmac? While taking off but before rotation? If it’s landing and thrust reversers have been deployed? Before reversers are deployed? During flair? On final approach?
I am unsure as to why this was reported as being “shot down” there have been many previous reports of Russian aircraft being destroyed on the ground and they weren’t referred to as being “shot down”
But also fairly recently a few Russian helicopters were destroyed on the ground and they were also referred to as being “shot down”
I honestly do not know Ukrainian well enough to know if it is just a simple translation issue, that seems to happen fairly often
Yeah that “shot down” headline is inaccurate if it was on the ground already.
Actually, that begs a pedantic question. When would an aircraft be “shot down” vs …whatever one would call destroyed on the ground. Is it shot down if the pilot is in the chair? If it’s moving on the tarmac? While taking off but before rotation? If it’s landing and thrust reversers have been deployed? Before reversers are deployed? During flair? On final approach?
I am unsure as to why this was reported as being “shot down” there have been many previous reports of Russian aircraft being destroyed on the ground and they weren’t referred to as being “shot down”
But also fairly recently a few Russian helicopters were destroyed on the ground and they were also referred to as being “shot down”
I honestly do not know Ukrainian well enough to know if it is just a simple translation issue, that seems to happen fairly often