Internet Is Awash in Rumors That Edward Snowden Is on a Flight Over the Atlantic
Philip Bump
The Internet, which enjoys its conspiracy theories, is ablaze with speculation that an Aeroflot flight between Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport and Havana, Cuba, might be carrying a particularly interesting passenger: Edward Snowden. It's an idea is based on the thinnest of threads: a shift in the flight's normal route away from the United States—a shift that isn't that unusual, even for this week.
When Aeroflot 150 made the trip on Tuesday, it looked like this, as mapped by FlightAware:
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There are any number of reasons that the plane might move further offshore. For example, there is a line of thunderstorms on the Eastern seaboard right now, which might bear avoidance. Or perhaps it's related to the remnants of Tropical Storm Chantal, which "EXTENDS FROM HISPANIOLA NORTHWARD TO THE SOUTHEASTERN AND CENTRAL BAHAMAS AND THE ADJACENT ATLANTIC," in the all-caps words of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That path, in case it's not clear, lies just to the west of the Aeroflot flight.
Update, 12:45 p.m.: Yup, it's the weather. As the
Washington Post points out, a number of flights are being diverted by turbulence over Greenland.
But there are
so many other reasons this is unlikely. For one, as we detailed last week, most commercial flights would likely not take Snowden, given that he has no passport or (probably) entry papers for Cuba. Plus, it seems likely that a national airline, which pre-filed a passenger manifest and flight path, would be hard-pressed to keep Snowden's passage a secret. For another, as ABC News documented last week, Snowden probably would have been seen boarding the plane by one of the cadre of reporters camped out in the airport specifically hoping to catch a glimpse.
- more -
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/07/edward-snowden-commercial-flight-over-atlantic-probably-not/67083/
The notion that a major commercial airline is going to smuggle Snowden out of Russia is far fetched.
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