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AR15.COM
7/6/2005 9:53:16 AM EDT
Can a F 16 actually go slowly enough to be of any real use on a surface search?



ORANJESTAD, Aruba -- Residents of Aruba are starting to resent the way their island is being portrayed in coverage of the Natalee Holloway disappearance.



More than 200 people turned out Tuesday night for a vigil outside the island's colonial courthouse, some of them wrapped in Aruban flags.

Many said they were especially angered by statements by Holloway's mother accusing Aruba of letting guilty people go free. She made the comments after two brothers held as suspects in the case were released.

One sign at the vigil read "Innocent until proven guilty." Another stated "Respect our Dutch laws or go home."

Some also complained that U.S. television coverage has unfairly depicted Aruba as being crime- and drug-ridden.

Meanwhile, the search for the Alabama teen goes on. Three F-16 jets sent by the Dutch government will start flying grid patterns offshore Wednesday in a search for clues.


7/6/2005 9:54:31 AM EDT
[#1]
no they probably cant.  its another "hey we're doing something!" move.

she's dead, the body is fish and crab food by now, sorry but move along.
7/6/2005 9:55:54 AM EDT
[#2]

Quoted:
Can a F 16 actually go slowly enough to be of any real use on a surface search?



Sure... they're looking for the blur out of the corner of their eyes that looks most like her.

That's about the stupidest thing I've heard lately... since "Michael Jackson is innocent"
7/6/2005 9:56:41 AM EDT
[#3]
My few thoughts on this one:
1. It looks like the Dutch are doing something.
2. A few 16s are better than nothing.
3. Not everyone has the airlift capability we do.  The Dutch can't load a few Pave Hawks on a C-17 and drop them anywhere in the world within 12 hours and the F-16s have long enough legs to make it over with a few stops.
7/6/2005 10:44:27 AM EDT
[#4]

Quoted:
F-16s have long enough legs to make it over with a few stops.



It's not so much the distance they can cover as the speed and height from which they're covering it. How can someone expect to find a person by looking out of the cockpit of a fighter jet?

They'd be better off doing it from a hotair balloon...


ETA: Oops... hold on. I missed this...


rigged with search equipment to help find Natalee Holloway



The planes, equipped with infrared and sonar-scanning capabilities,


source
7/6/2005 10:54:27 AM EDT
[#5]
Kind of hard to spot a body that's been dead for a month.
7/6/2005 10:56:19 AM EDT
[#6]
Keeps the Press happy…
7/6/2005 10:57:42 AM EDT
[#7]
Mapping of the surrounding area with cameras for later detailed examination.
It's done all the time.......

You guys watch too much TV
7/6/2005 10:59:58 AM EDT
[#8]
Apparently they can go about as slow as a Cesna and still stay airborne...barely.  Remember those F16 flying intercepts the past few years in temporary restricted airspace?
7/6/2005 11:00:15 AM EDT
[#9]
Laughable.
7/6/2005 11:02:11 AM EDT
[#10]

Quoted:
Kind of hard to spot a body that's been dead for a month.


That's why the planes have been modified with thermal imaging.

7/6/2005 11:02:22 AM EDT
[#11]
tELL ME (FUCKING CAPS .....Tell me what good IR is would it detect a "differance" between bone and sand or correl cooling rates . Or do they think she's being held in some discreat location that they can "see" with IR . Probably just more "feel good , we tried " HARR F-16's to search for a body , those planes make bodies they dont findem . Wheres 10 Dutch Helo's .....I really dont think the Dutch really want to solve it at this point . There would just be to many embaresing details to deal with .

Edited to add I'm sick of trying to edit misspellings so I'm not
7/6/2005 11:03:00 AM EDT
[#12]
Someone gets it.

Military grade recon equipment, the data from which can be analysed by boffins at base is probably more effective than a Mk1 eyeball with binoculars from a helicopter.

For underwater searching, I wonder if they'd consider a P-3 or a Lynx?

NTM
7/6/2005 11:03:16 AM EDT
[#13]

Quoted:
Kind of hard to spot a body that's been dead for a month.



7/6/2005 11:03:41 AM EDT
[#14]
They have some kind of thermal device on board. But that only works on live bodies. A waste of time and man power. This is over.
7/6/2005 11:11:29 AM EDT
[#15]

Quoted:
no they probably cant.  its another "hey we're doing something!" move.

she's dead, the body is fish and crab food by now, sorry but move along.



more likely fish poop.

thermal imaging will be of no value in searching a body that has assumed ambient temperature weeks ago.
7/6/2005 11:45:59 AM EDT
[#16]
Do the Dutch have SuperHornets?
7/6/2005 11:51:07 AM EDT
[#17]
Seems like a horrible waste of resources to find one girl.  If it wasn't missing white girl du jour, none of this bullshit would be happening.
7/6/2005 12:12:37 PM EDT
[#18]
We  deal with a contractor that offers thermal imaging services to locate buried pipe lines and underground leaks. They look for slight variations in color in the data they obtain.

They have also sucessfully used their technology to locate long abandonded grave yards as part of survey work.  I saw the images where they found one unmarked graveyard outside a prison that dated to the early 1800's.

These guys attach their imaging equipment to a fixed wing aircraft or simply hang out the window of a helicopter. I suppose they could do the same thing from a slow flying jet.  

Probably a long shot though.  I agree this girl's body was probably fish food.  Sad, sad situation.