Korean Air Lines flight 007
- Date:
- September 1, 1983
- Location:
- Sea of Japan
- Russia
- Sakhalin Island
- Context:
- Cold War
- Key People:
- Ronald Reagan
Korean Air Lines flight 007, flight of a passenger jet that was shot down by Soviet air-to-air missiles on September 1, 1983, near Sakhalin Island, Russia, killing all 269 persons on board. It was en route to Seoul from Anchorage, Alaska, when it strayed more than 200 miles (322 km) from its scheduled path and entered Soviet airspace. Soviet authorities claimed that the plane was on an intelligence-gathering mission for the United States, though no evidence supported the allegation. The incident occurred during heightened tensions during the Cold War and further degraded U.S.-Soviet relations.
Missile strike
Korean Air Lines (KAL) flight 007 originated in New York City and stopped in Anchorage to refuel. At approximately 4:00 am local time on August 31, 1983, the plane, a Boeing 747, departed. Shortly thereafter the aircraft crossed the International Date Line, and the day changed to September 1. By this time the plane’s path was already deviating to the north, and some three hours into its flight the aircraft appeared on Russian radar. At the same time, a U.S. Air Force plane, a Boeing 707, was on a reconnaissance mission nearby, attempting to monitor the Soviet testing of a missile on the Kamchatka Peninsula. It was being tracked by the Soviets, but at some point the civilian aircraft was misidentified as the spy plane. Soviet fighter jets scrambled but failed to reach the South Korean aircraft before it cleared Kamchatka and flew over international waters.
However, the passenger jet again entered Soviet airspace as it passed over Sakhalin Island. This time Soviet fighter jets began trailing the South Korean plane. A Soviet pilot noted that the aircraft’s navigational and strobe lights were blinking, which would suggest that it was not a spy plane. He allegedly fired warning shots, but they were not seen by the pilots of the civilian plane. By this time the South Korean plane had received permission from Tokyo air traffic control to increase its altitude, and the aircraft slowed as the flight adjustments were made. To the Soviets, however, the plane was engaging in evasive maneuvers. With the aircraft fast approaching international airspace, a Soviet plane fired two air-to-air missiles. Although the Soviet pilot declared that the target was destroyed, the crippled plane continued to fly—estimates vary from 90 seconds up to 12 minutes—before crashing into the Sea of Japan (East Sea) approximately 30 miles (48 km) from Sakhalin Island.
Response
The incident had widespread fallout and increased tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. U.S. officials immediately claimed that the Soviets had knowingly downed a civilian plane, and U.S. Pres. Ronald Reagan decried it as “an act of barbarism.” Government officials continued to publicly promote this narrative, even after U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that the Soviets had likely mistaken the plane for a reconnaissance aircraft. U.S. authorities used the incident to stir anti-Soviet sentiment worldwide, especially as it was the second time Soviets had attacked a passenger plane; an incident involving another Korean Air Lines aircraft had occurred in 1978, but that plane had managed to make an emergency landing, and only two people died.
The Soviets, in turn, initially denied responsibility until the United States presented intercepted Soviet radio communications. Faced with such evidence, they admitted downing the plane but claimed that it had been conducting a spy mission for the United States. Although no corroboration was presented to support this assertion, the Soviets continued to claim that their response was justified. Among many Soviet officials, the incident was seen as a “political provocation carefully organized by the US special services.”
Investigation
In October 1983 Soviets discovered the plane’s black box but kept its recovery secret. The United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) launched an investigation of the incident, but, with limited information, it was able to produce only an interim report later that year. One of the biggest mysteries was why the plane had strayed so far from its scheduled route. The ICAO produced two theories, both of which involved human error concerning the navigation system. One proposed explanation involved the autopilot being set to “heading” mode when it should have been on Inertial Navigation System (INS). On the former setting, the plane’s route would not have been adjusted for wind conditions, among other issues. The second theory concerned the pilot’s entering of a wrong number into the navigation system. The ICAO also held that there was no evidence to support the Soviet assertion that the passenger plane was on an intelligence-gathering mission, and it later condemned their “use of armed force.” Furthermore, the ICAO recommended an amendment (Article 3 bis) to the Convention on International Civil Aviation that banned the use of military weapons against civilian aircraft in flight; after it was ratified by the necessary number of member states, it went into effect in 1998.
In 1992 the ICAO resumed its investigation after Russia agreed to release various materials, and the tapes from the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder were turned over the following year. Later in 1993 the ICAO completed its investigation. It notably concluded that the theory involving the “heading” mode was the most likely explanation for the plane’s path. Either the pilots had failed to change the setting or the plane was too far off course when the INS mode was selected, causing it to fail to engage. The ICAO also found nothing in the recordings to suggest that the plane had been gathering intelligence.
Conspiracy theories
The lack of definitive answers concerning KAL flight 007 contributed to the rise of numerous alternate theories. Some, for instance, claimed that the damaged plane actually landed in Russia and that the passengers and crew were imprisoned. Another theory suggested that the plane crashed during a shoot-out between Soviet and U.S. aircraft. Others believed that the South Korean jet was actually a spy plane. In 1996 the Soviet pilot who shot it down claimed that he had known it was a commercial aircraft but insisted that it was actually a disguised reconnaissance plane. Despite the lack of reliable evidence, such conspiracy theories have persisted.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica