K.A.L. pilots made error

Press, 9 December 1983, Page 6

K.A.L. pilots made error

NZPA-AP Toronto An international inquiry into the downing of a South Korean airliner on September 1 by a Soviet jet fighter had concluded that the Korean pilots probably made a navigational mistake, it was reported yesterday. The inquiry by the International Civil Aviation Organisation said that the Boeing 747’s navigational computer probably had been programmed with the wrong starting point, resulting in a course that took it over the Soviet island of Sakhalin, where it was shot down, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported. All 269 people aboard the Korean Air Lines jet died in the crash. The 1.C.A.0. report had undercut the Soviet assertion that the Korean plane had been on a spy mission, C.B.C. said.

The report was to be discussed at a special meeting of the 33-member 1.C.A.0. council next week, “The New York Times” reported yesterday. The 1.C.A.0. is affiliated with the United Nations.

The flight started in Anchorage, Alaska, and was supposed to follow a series of check-points across the northern Pacific to Japan. C.B.C. reported that the 1.C.A.0. experts had asserted that an error in the co-ordinates could have placed the starting point 10 deg. to the east and then, based on that misinformation, the computer would have calculated a new course across the Pacific.

The jetliner had other navigational systems besides the on-board computer. But the C.B.C. quoted an 1.C.A.0. official as saying: “You have to make the assumption the crew wasn’t paying much attention.”