16. Korean Airlines Flight 902, April, 1978
Korean Airlines Flight 902 (KAL 902) was a regularly scheduled flight from Paris’s Orly Airport to Seoul, South Korea, with a stop in Anchorage, Alaska. As the aircraft flew over the Arctic Circle, deviations in its magnetic compass caused it to alter course. The deviations were later explained as being caused by the Magnetic North Pole, over which the airplane, a 707, Boeing flew as part of its flight path. At any rate, the aircraft deviated almost 180 degrees from its planned flight, and approached Soviet airspace over the Atlantic, north and east of the Scandinavian countries. Soviet early warning systems tracked the airplane and tried to contact it from the ground. Soviet fighters were dispatched to intercept KAL 902, and using standard international communication techniques, instruct its pilot to follow them to a landing. The Korean pilot ignored the instructions and changed course toward Finland.
The Soviets fired two missiles at the airliner, which caused the death of two of the passengers aboard. KAL 902 executed a forced landing on a frozen lake in Karelia. Soviet troops rescued the remaining 107 passengers and crew. The Soviets lodged the passengers in military officers’ quarters, for which the Soviet government billed South Korea, as well as for their eventual transport home. South Korea never paid the bill. The Soviets claimed espionage on the part of the South Koreans, who claimed navigational error due to faulty equipment. Soviet authorities refused to allow international inspection of the aircraft and its “black box” was never released. The aircraft’s pilot and navigator were released in late April, after signing a confessional statement they had deliberately violated Soviet airspace. Families of the two deceased passengers were never compensated by the Soviets for the incident.
