KAL 007

(a)

On September 1st, 1983 a Korean Air Lines (KAL) Boeing 747 departed Anchorage for a flight to Seoul.

Soon after departure the aircraft deviated to the right (North) of its planned route. Ultimately, this resulted in penetration of Russian airspace. Approaching Sakhalin Island, the flight was intercepted by USSR military fighters. About half an hour afterwards KAL 007 was hit by at least one air-to-air missile fired by one of the fighter aircraft. The Boeing crashed into the sea. 269 passengers and crew were lost.

It would seem impossible for a pilot with the reputation of Captain Chun's to have made as large an error as the facts state. For an experienced pilot and crew to have taken their plane so far off course as they did on that flight there must have been some kind of explicable reason. However, questions remain unanswered.

What is known, is that Chun took the passenger plane that he was in command of into the middle of Russian airspace, resulting in the death of all on board.

There are two different accounts of the flight path - the first shows that 007 was off course from just after takeoff, and the other, about midway through the trip.

No matter which is correct, Captain Chun continued to dispatch signals that he had passed all of the checkpoints along the journey. An experienced pilot and crew could not have made a mistake as drastic as this, even if electrical navigation equipment was faulty.

Another factor is that the craft was not reachable by radio. Whether Chun had switched it off or it had malfunctioned is not to be known.

The Russian Air Force spotted the plane on radar and suspected the craft to be that of an RC-135 spy plane. Despite the smaller size and wing span of the RC-135, the airplanes are difficult to determine from distances and in the air.

It would appear that the Russians had mistaken the 747 for that of a spy-plane.

According to the Soviet Union several warnings and messages were transmitted, all of which were ignored by the crew. The pilot of the Russian craft ordered the plane to land or face consequences. Captain Chun and his crew ignored the messages, and 246 passengers and themselves perished.

It can be debatable whether Chun knew that he was off course, but the facts tend to suggest that it would be impossible for an experienced captain to make such a fatal mistake. Conspiracy is the more plausible explanation.

KAL 007

(b)

On September 1st, 1983 a Korean Air Lines (KAL) Boeing 747 departed Anchorage for a flight to Seoul.

Soon after departure the aircraft deviated to the right (North) of its planned route. Ultimately, this resulted in penetration of Russian airspace. Approaching Sakhalin Island, the flight was intercepted by USSR military fighters. About half an hour afterwards KAL 007 was hit by at least one air-to-air missile fired by one of the fighter aircraft. The Boeing crashed into the sea. 269 passengers and crew were lost.

Exactly what caused Chun to fly off course that fateful night is inexplicable.

It may have been a case of electrical failure causing the navigational equipment to corrupt calculations, or the captain may have made the shortcut in an effort to save fuel. Whatever the reason, his small mistake was turned into a lethal one by the Russian military. In light of this incident it would appear that the Soviet Union are overly protective of their airspace.

Upon spotting what they believed to be an RC-135 spy plane on their radar, pilots apparently ordered the plane to land, but when they received no reply, destroyed the craft, and with it 269 human beings.

If they did mistake the craft for a spy jet, then there is a great inadequacy within their air barracks, as the pilot must not have gone close enough to distinguish between the two planes.

A similar incident occurred earlier, when Russian pilots forced a commercial airliner down. While injuries and international uproar occurred, the effect was nowhere near as severe as the KAL circumstance.

The Russian government had admitted that they were responsible for shooting down KAL 007, but did not state whether they mistook it for a spy jet or not.

It would appear that the KAL 007 murder was either a great conspiracy to exterminate a certain passenger on the plane, or a drastic failure of Soviet air defenses.

KAL 007

(c)

On September 1st, 1983 a Korean Air Lines (KAL) Boeing 747 departed Anchorage for a flight to Seoul.

Soon after departure the aircraft deviated to the right (North) of its planned route. Ultimately, this resulted in penetration of Russian airspace. Approaching Sakhalin Island, the flight was intercepted by USSR military fighters. About half an hour afterwards KAL 007 was hit by at least one air-to-air missile fired by one of the fighter aircraft. The Boeing crashed into the sea. 269 passengers and crew were lost.

I am baffled by the occurrences on the night of the KAL incident. There are many theories and conclusions that I am able to understand, yet unable to comprehend. Suggestions have been made that America was involved with the conspiracy, and that it may have been related to the ongoing Cold War bickering between the U.S. and Russia. There are claims that a full-blown war occurred in the air before the plane was shot down, and that around 30 American air pilots were killed in the unnecessary battle. Some claims also state that the plane never crashed at all, rather the occurrence was a planned cover up by the Soviet Union. The fact that extensive searches by the U.S. and Korean governments failed to result in the finding of the craft's black box, leads to speculation that the Russian government had already retrieved the evidence, leaving their opposition to pursue false signals.

From the many sources of evidence and opinions available, the data which has convinced me the most is the video which our class viewed prior to this assignment. It revealed that Chun had scribbled notes on the flight co-ordinates - "215 nautical miles". When Chun transmitted his whereabouts to base as at Neeva, he was exactly 215 nautical miles away from that checkpoint.

I have been led to the conclusion that Chun was sure of his position and knew that he was flying into Russian airspace. The possibilities of his motives are plentiful, but it is my belief that he was on an observation mission (perhaps for the U.S.). The Soviet Union did not mistake the Boeing 747 for an RC-135, suspecting the passenger craft was in their airspace to spy. The recorded message of the pilot sending signals to Chun was merely a formality, as KAL 007 was destined to be destroyed. Russia sent deep-sea divers out after the attack, cleaning up almost all evidence that would lead to a Soviet cover up.