Koreans blame flight aids

Press, 1 May 1978, Page 8

Koreans blame flight aids

NZPA Copenhagen The pilot and navigator of a South Korean passenger plane forced down in the Soviet Union on April 20 have said that, failure of navigational equipment took their plane off course. The two were speaking in Copenhagen after arriving from Leningrad on their way home to Seoul. At a news conference, the two Koreans declined to go into details of why their plane was so far off course when it was forced down by Soviet fighter planes and two passengers were killed.

They said such a disclosure must be held for an investgating committee in South Korea.

The navigator. Lee Kungshik, speaking through an interpreter, however, told reporters the plane had wandered 1600 kilometres off course because “due to a defect of the directional gyro, we found there was a Withdrawal of the Loran station.” He did not explain. The pilot, Kim Chang-kyn, in a statement at the start of the news conference paid tribute to Soviet authorities for releasing the passengers and crew and for their good treatment “over the week we were there.” NZPA-Reuter said that the pilot apparently repudiated parts of a confession he made to Soviet authorities. A statement issued by the Soviet News agency, Tass, said the two South Koreans had been pardoned after confessing to violating Soviet air space, and breaking flying rules over the Soviet Union.

The pilot said the Russians had kept the plane’s black box flight recorder, the cockpit voice recorder, and the flight record.