of military force of moammar gadhafi s army we ve seen since we ve been here. multiple rocket launchers, multiple tanks, artillery pieces, radar control, weapons systems, multiple soldiers, hundreds, possibly several thousand. multiple dozens upon dozens of large, heavy trucks, full of ammunition, ammunition for ak-47 to large tanks. the soldiers feel confident. the government feels confident. there was a real anticipation in the air of those soldiers on the outskirts today. there were other government troops skirmishing with rebels we were being told. but the troops told us they ve had ten days of games. they feel very confident. they say the only thing that s holding them up is that the rebels inside the city are in civilian buildings and they say, and we have no way of independently confirming this, they say that s going to make it harder for them to fight,
air. as tom and i spoke off and on the air today, something catastrophic apparently happened at altitude with this flight crew and this airplane that seems to have caused a sudden pitch control problem, where the captain and the co-pilot could not control the up and down motion of this aircraft because of data returns we ve seen from flight radar 24 show that the plane oscillating essentially in those last few seconds. i would imagine being a passenger on that flight would probably be pretty scary to have an aircraft going through that kind of movement on the way to the ground. and then of course we know that the radar control radar contact, was lost before the flight hit the ground. so whether there was a break-up of the aircraft, we don t know. there apparently was, according to our producer in cairo, a post-crash fire and many of the bodies succumbed to fire as well. so a lot more details coming out as we go forward in the morning, the afternoon. all right, also joining us at
they turn out over the water, once you get 200 to 300 miles offshore, there is no radar. airplanes are not typically under radar control once they are out 200 or 300 miles over the ocean. that radar starts jent generally within 200 or 300 miles of reaching land. at that point the land based radar picks up up. once you are out over the water there is no radar. typically any radar system is as good as the equipment, which many times in these countries equipment is not as sophisticated as it is in the united states. and the radar controller. and any land based radar has blackout spots behind mountains, behind hills that the radar would not paint. i mean, in listening to you, jesse, you have got to get lucky that you can get those blackout spots so you can be a certain distance, some level of skill and knowledge in order accomplish it. can t blindly fly and hope for the best.