Was the fire at alleged launch location caused by flares?
Fighter aircraft deploy flares to distract surface to air missiles which are guided by heath. There are various videos on YouTube which show aircraft deploying flares.
Those hot flares could have caused the fire at the alleged launch location south of Snizhne.
The Interpreter quotes an eyewitness named Marina who lives in Pervomaika [Pervomaiskoye]
Marina: Before that [the crash of the Boeing-PN), that day there were four people: Aunt Nina, Aunt Lyuba and my friend, Godmother Lyuda. We were sitting on the bench and talking. The drones were flying. Then we went our ways. And then Aunt Nina comes running out and starts calling us, and covered her face with her kerchief. And the missiles flew at us here, like fireworks, missiles, but they were white. There were a lot of them, they opened up, and then they hung in the sky, and she [Aunt Nina], thought that they were phosphorous bombs. Before that they scared us, that they had been in Makeyevka, that there would be burns later. [Aunt Nina] shouted – “phosphorous bombs!” And here Sergei came along [her husband, who served in the DNR–PK] and says “Aunt Nina, that can’t be, that’s the defense.”
Kanygin: Thermal [defense from an MRLS]?
Marina: Yes. And the sky was whitish, like fog.
Kanygin: Your neighbor told me that this plane which ejected thermal defense was then shot down.
Marina: Well, of course! It was shot down over Dmitrovskaya.
The woman likely described the lighting bomb
(containing 7 or 14 lighting elements), not exactly flares. Ukraine used such bombs as flares/decoy.
For the bomb/flares to be the source of fire we need an eastern wind. This is where we stopped considering the idea.
It is possible that flares ignite trhe fire.
16Jul SAT image show one SU25 and there was several during that day.
So, yes, possible. (flare would have git the corner of the field IMO)
This video shows at 1:00 an Mi 24 helicopter shooting S-8 rockets at Donetsk airport.
At 1:30 there is black smoke rising in the air :
The same S-8 rockets were used on June 2/2014 in Luhansk :
First S-8 rockets, then flares :
Illumination flares :
White missile trails (Strela ?) stay longer then 2 minutes :
In the descripton is mentioned „According to the locals – battle planes destroyed some tractors and set a field ablaze. An SU-25 was seen deploying flares between Molodohvardiis’k and Sukhodolsk.“
Quote: “[…] White missile trails (Strela ?) stay longer then 2 minutes: […]”
The white trails probably originate from two planes, which have deployed the flares.
Eugene, why we would need eastern wind?
Fields burn also against the wind. Farmers intentionally burn their fields against the wind to get a low cold creeping and controllable fire.
Indeed, the higher unburnt plants at the Oliphant spot look very much like burnt against the wind.
>Eugene, why we would need eastern wind?
Because Fly roughly estimated that the lady saw the illumination bomb 3 km to the east from Oliphant field.
http://mh17.webtalk.ru/viewtopic.php?id=253&p=5#p47717
> Do such flares burn long enough to reach the earth?
Probably depends on the drop height. Normally, I guess they shouldn’t, or there would be a waste.
Anyway, I believe the Oliphant field was burned on purpose to enforce the story behind Aleynikov pictures. Quite a few reasons for this belief:
1) The Oliphant field is located on the line to the source of the black smoke. Now we know that the black smoke is not related to the white plume, but people who ignited the field did not know this when they were deciding where to set the grass ablaze. Therefore they picked the best spot as it looked then, but now it appears to be a wrong position.
2) The Buk crew would not select the parking position where the radio beam is blocked by the trees. This has been verified on webtalk. Again, the people who set the field ablaze did not know this.
3) Thw Buk crew would not park where there is a chance of setting alight grass around you. There is a rule for this in the protocol. Andrew rightfully noted that there’s no single video where a Buk sets fire.
4) Oliphant would inevitably notice the characteristic mark on the ground left by the exhaust and report this. He did not and we see no such thing in his video. We see intact grass stems, which wouldn’t be the case under the 10 ton strong exhaust.
5) Rebels allowed to take soil samples from the place.
6) Enforcing story in such a way is trivial and bears no risk. Not using such a simple addition would mean that you are not fit for your job for being too stupid and not enough creative.
Another question is: Do such flares burn long enough to reach the earth?
In case of very low flying helicopters, they do: