now to a developing story from syria. nbc news confirmed a jordanian fighter jet was shot down by isis. they have captured the pilot alive. social media accounts published reports purportedly of the pilots being held by isis fighters. isis said it shot down the jet with a heat-seeking missile. jordan is one of four countries whose aircraft has been flying over syria. the u.s. is trying to root out isis in the region. much more on this throughout the morning on msnbc. former president george h.w. bush rushed to the hospital. we ll have an update next. the holiday season is here,
metal, if it is still there. reporter: though it s too soon to tell. unlike a heat seeking missile which would lock on to an engine, the proximity missile is a explosive warhead that detonates near aircraft. rick francona is retired air force intelligence. the standard sa 11 warhead is 150 pounds of high explosive fragmentation. in other words, the casing itself will turn into shrapnel when the warhead explodes. francona says the buk launcher typically uses these missiles. instead of a fire ball it tears hole in the aircraft leaving sections intact. it could have caused a mid air explosion. we saw the fuselage coming apart and falling in large pieces. reporter: experts say thick black smoke from a fire was likely the fuselage after it hit the ground. we think of another crash,
and the soviet jets were scrambled to go check it out. they fired a heat-seeking missile at that korean airlines jet. the jet got hit by the missile, but it was not destroyed. the pilots of that plane emergency landed the aircraft on a frozen lake. two of the passengers onboard were killed by the missile. about a dozen of them were injured. the rest survived. that was 1978. five years later, the soviets did it again and they did it again to another korean airlines jet. although this time in 1983, it was a direct hit and the jet was destroyed and everybody onboard was killed. this was a much more famous incident, the one that happened in 1983. korean airlines flight 007. that flight, again, had strayed into the soviet union, but honestly, that flight was only seconds away from international airspace when a soviet fighter jet hit it with two missiles.
mistakenly crossed over into soviet airspace up near the soviet border with finland. and the soviet jets were scrambled to go check it out. they fired a heat-seeking missile at that korean airlines jet. the jet got hit by the missile, but it was not destroyed. the pilots of that plane emergency landed the aircraft on a frozen lake. two of the passengers onboard were killed by the missile. about a dozen of them were injured. the rest survived. that was 1978. five years later, the soviets did it again and they did it again to another korean airlines jet. although this time in 1983, it was a direct hit and the jet was destroyed and everybody onboard was killed. this was a much more famous incident, the one that happened in 1983. korean airlines flight 007. that flight, again, had strayed into the soviet union, but honestly, that flight was only seconds away from international airspace when a soviet fighter jet hit it with two missiles. that was 1983.
scrambled to go check it out. they fired a heat-seeking missile at that korean airlines jet. the jet got hit by the missile, but it was not destroyed. the pilots of that plane emergency landed the aircraft on a frozen lake. two of the passengers onboard were killed by the missile. about a dozen of them were injured. the rest survived. that was 1978. five years later, the soviets did it again and they did it again to another korean airlines jet. although this time in 1983, it was a direct hit and the jet was destroyed and everybody onboard was killed. this was a much more famous incident, the one that happened in 1983. korean airlines flight 007. that flight, again, had strayed into the soviet union, but honestly, that flight was only seconds away from international airspace when a soviet fighter jet hit it with two missiles. that was 1983. one of the passengers onboard that plane that was shot down was a u.s. congressman named lawrence mcdonald.