I was reading about this on and off today, amazed to learn that despite modern advances in weather radar and aviation, this could still happen in such a catastrophic manner.

I stopped when I heard the recording of the pilots with the flight controller. Are we really such a ghoulish society that we need or desire to hear the absolute terror of people who are realizing they are about to die?

If it had been hit by an EMP, why were the radios still working as they plummeted 30-something thousand feet in about a minute?

I have one word for you, just one word... tinfoil.

#26 | Posted by REDIAL

So they prepared for a targeted EMP attack and wrapped their radios in tinfoil (all-oo-min-eum foil, BTW).

If the EMP blast knocks out the primary generator, some components could switch over to a dedicated main and/or emergency DC chemical battery, which lack integrated microchips or complex circuitry for an EMP to affect.

#28 | Posted by pumpkinhead

Maybe someone more familiar with radios can chime in but this sounds an awful lot like *ahem* bulls*&^.

Because you can have a million batteries connected to that radio and it still would be fried by an EMP along with everything else...