[agere_contra]

You are correct: a heat-seeking missile would indeed aim for the engines.

But the combined engine wash from a 747 is titanically different from the wash of (say) an F15, a MIG or any of the usual design targets of a AA missile. A 747 wash will easily throw cars around. I can certainly imagine a missile striking the 'wrong' part of a plane if it engaged the wash.

[Non-Sequitur]

But the combined engine wash from a 747 is titanically different from the wash of (say) an F15, a MIG or any of the usual design targets of a AA missile. A 747 wash will easily throw cars around. I can certainly imagine a missile striking the 'wrong' part of a plane if it engaged the wash.

I sometimes have a problem keeping all the missile theories straight, but I don't remember any that identify exactly where the missile was supposed to have hit. Any such place would have shown evidence of an explosion. I know that none of the engines showed damage, what part of the airlplane did?