<영문자료> LAST WITNESS OF KAL 007(4)

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Crossing Kamchatka : Understanding the psychology of panic An important question arises here. Why didn't 007 pilots ask 015 pilots any questions? Why didn't it ask 015, which was directly behind it, for a single bit of advice when it could not receive the DME-VOR at Shemya? This is how Park, Yong Man interprets it: "Strangely that day, there wasn't a single exchange of humor. 007's request for us to relay their position was all there was. Judging from 007's flight circumstances, there must have been may things it wanted to ask us. There were so may questions, such as whether we were receiving the DME at Saint Paul and Shemya, and what the wind was like in our spot. Additionally, I called 007 twice and drew their attention. But, they probably could not ask us. If they were attempting a risky flight without using the INS (or, continued to use an INS that was malfunctioning), they would refrain from asking any questions even if they wanted to do so in order to keep this fact a secret. Plus, Captain Chun had a hard time approaching me because of his respect for me. I think, this is why 007 flew in complete silence. If Captain Chun had told the truth and explained his situation, the tragedy would have been prevented from happening. But other KAL pilots dispute that "If 007 continued to fly on a heading mode, because of INS problems, then it is only natural that it would ask 015, which was following directly behind it, the wind direction, wind speed and flight directions and judging from the fact that it did not ask, it does not seem likely that 007 flew with the INS turned off. It is mandatory that anyone who was in an abnormal state of flight as was 007, that they exchange information and advice from each other." There is a joke which goes : "Many must cooperate in order for an aircraft to crash." It means that many involved persons all must make continuous errors and many unfortunate events must occur in succession in order for a disaster to take place. 007 incident is such a case. When 007 was passing Commandorski to the north, a U.S. Air Force RC-135 was in the neighboring airspace on a reconnaissance flight in preparation of a Soviet missile test. This reconnaissance plane came as close as 75 aeronautical miles, that is 10 minutes in flight time to 007. But, the RC-135 left to the south to return the base on Shemya and exited from the surveillance zone of Soviet radar. It is Hersh's conclusion that at right about this time 007, traveling in the same direction, was being observed by Soviet radar. An experienced Soviet radar operator believed this to be another RC-135. Moreover, 007 was making a left turn toward Commandorski Island at this point. Civilian aircrafts only fly in straight lines. 007 made a move which was easy to misunderstand. Afterwards, a U.S. eavesdropping base even has recordings of the fighter pilot, who was scrambled from Kamchatka, reporting the 007 as if he were chasing a RC-135. The reason for the delay in scrambling for 007 was because Soviet Air Defense Forces thought that, "since this is an RC-135, it will always approach Kamchatka almost touching, and then head back again," and deferred orders to scramble. 007, after passing to the north of Commandorski without any hesitation, flew directly over Kamchatka which is a concentrated area of Military facilities. Doubtful question arise as to whether this could be possible when Kamchatka's shoreline would appear on the weather radar. "I am at a loss as to why they entered Kamchatka," says Park, Yong Man, and expressed these thoughts: "After convincing oneself of Commandorski as Shemya, wouldn't one try to ignore evidence which contradicts this belief. Or, it could have been cloudy or the radar might have been malfunctioning…" According to Soviet date, the airspace above Kamchatka was covered with several layers of cirrus clouds and fog at the time. Half of the sky was covered by the quantity of clouds. Many say that one would not confuse land with clouds on the radar at this level of cloudiness. But, one veteran pilot said this referring to the Murmansk as an example: "In confusion, one can mistake the ocean for clouds and small aircrafts even fly upside down. At Murmansk, the 707 aircraft made a near U turn. The navigator thought things were normal even though the sun which had been on the left, reappeared on the right side of the aircraft. When Captain Kim, Suk Kyu became suspicious and asked if this was not strange, the navigator stubbornly insisted that they were going correctly. When there is a slight deviation from regulation course, it is easy to correct with the help of familiar landmarks, but when the deviation is extraordinarily big, the landmarks are unfamiliar and it is difficult to apprehend how the deviation occurred, they are in a state where they panic and do not know what to do. It's like being seized by a cramp while swimming." Most of aircraft accident causes are those which "cannot be understood." A good example is the runway accident of a KAL DC-10 in Anchorage on December 23rd of 1983. In the fog, the Captain of the DC-10 followed the taxi strip onto the middle of a wrong runway, and wile taxiing to take off, crashed into a small airplane, which was standing by to take off in the opposite direction. The aircraft should have traveled in a 320 degree angle but, it traveled at a 240 degree angle, and none of the three crew had noticed that the compass in front of them was pointing to 240 degrees. At the time when 007 was about to enter Kamchatka, it had passed the "3 hours and 22 minutes mark" after take-off. If a major problem occurs before this time, then the aircraft must return to Anchorage, and if a major problem occurs after this time, then it must go to Tokyo. 007 had crossed the bridge of no return. We can only guess whether Captain Chun knew that he was flying over Kamchatka. When an aircraft flies over land, it becomes difficult to identify the landscape because the weather radar becomes hazy due to reflections. In the Murmansk accident, the 707 thought it was flying over water although it was actually flying over land, it also had a radar. Things that are not possible under normal circumstances can happen under a state of panic. Furthermore, the radar is only the size of a hand palm. It's not as if you were looking at a map. Oh my God! 007 crossed Kamchatka in 30 minutes and came out over the Sea of Ohtsk. 007 reported to the Tokyo Control Center that it had passed NIPPI at 02:07 Korean Standard Time. At the time 007 reported passing NIPPI, it was 560 kilometers away to the north. If you were passing NIPPI on regular course, the Kuril Islands should appear on the right side of the radar. There was no way that 007 could have caught this on its radar. If 007 had thought this was strange and had turned to the south, it could still have avoided being shot down. When looking at the Soviet flight path data, 007 makes a large parabolic turn towards the Southwest as it is flying over Sakhalin. According to the Japanese Self Defense Forces' radar trace material provided to House of Representative member Yutakka in May of last year, it show that 007 changed its altitude and direction several times over the airspace of Sakhalin. The Soviet initially claimed that 007 took evasive action, but it is explained that the Soviet interceptor pilot misunderstood 007's change of altitude from 33,000 feet to 35,000 feet as being an evasive action. There are those who claim that the 007 pilots finally realized that they were in the wrong place over Sakhalin and attempted to change course, but also there are those who believe "007 pilots did not know they were in Soviet airspace until they were shot down." Park, Yong Man said, "Wouldn't you suppose that they knew that they were in the wrong place over Sakhalin?" Reporter Hersh quoted the words of an officer for the U.S. Air Force Electronic Security Command, which had been tracking 007. This officer told me that it was true that 007 made direction turn before it entered the airspace over Sakhalin. According to Hersh, U.S. eavesdropping base had recorded the discussions regarding actions to be taken about the unidentified aircraft which took place through the communications net-work which connects Sakhalin Regional Air Defense Command Havarofsk Air Defense Command―and the Moscow Air Force Headquarters, during the time that Soviet Havarofsk Command to the Sakhalin Regional Command was : "Must have visual contact before shooting." The Soviet interceptor attempted to identify 007 by operating the Mutual Identifier. This functions only if the subject to be identified is a Soviet aircraft and even then would not be able to tell whether the subject was a military or a civilian aircraft. At 03:20 Korean Standard Time, the Soviet interceptor(SU-15) pilot received orders to "Send signal by firing machine gun. If there is no response, then destroy." With this the fighter pilot cried out, "Yolki Palk!" (Oh, my God!). 007 would be out in international airspace in few minutes. Many Soviet military leaders would have lost their heads for losing an enemy aircraft. It is always difficult to maintain a cool judgment about an object which is moving almost at the speed of sound because of limitation on given time. The frantic judgement of the Soviet air defense system, like the judgment of the 007 pilots, was an invitation to disaster. The Soviet interceptor fired 120 rounds of gunfire in front of the nose of the 007. At 03:22 the Soviet aircraft came around to the front of the 007. The Soviet aircraft was unable to reduce its speed while 007 was increasing its altitude. At 03:23, co-pilot Son reported to Tokyo Control Center that it had reached 35,000 feet. The SU-15, which was now approximately 1,000 meters below 007 to the rear, aimed an air-to-air missile at the fuselage of 007. At 03:26, the SU-15 fired two missiles. "Target is destroyed," reported the pilot. Forty seconds after 007 had been hit by the missile, Tokyo Control Center received a report mixed with static. "Rapid decompression…descending to 10,000 feet…" Reporter Hersh wrote that it was these final moments in which the foremost elite of KAL pilots, Captain Chun, Byung In, demonstrated his talents. For 8 minutes after impact, the Captain, bearly being able to control 007, descended to 16,000 feet. At this altitude the pilot tried to reduce the descent. But, the aircraft, with its oil pressure gone, was no longer controllable and it began to dive in circular motion. 007 passed over the heads of Japanese seamen engulfed in flames, and then crashed into the sea. Whatever passengers were alive up to this point died at that moment. When ill-fate is added to human-error Hersh concluded that the Soviet air defense network chased 007 with misconceptions that it was an RC-135, and did not know that it was civilian aircraft until it was shot down. Five days after the shootdown of 007, President Reagan charged "There is very little chance that the Soviet pilot could not have known that the distinct looking 747 was a civilian airliner after having seen it up close on a half-moon lit clear evening." But, the ICAO report specifically negated Reagan's claims by saying, "At the time of the shootdown, a warning moon was positioned at 60 degrees of the horizon, and at 35,000 feet it was still pitch dark." It was the U.S. Air Force Intelligence Headquarters' view that the Soviet fighter could not possibly discern a RC-135 from a 747, which was 1,000 meters above itself and with that kind of illumination. Based upon the information that 007 was on a spying mission, the Soviet announced that 007 flew with its lights off, but the Soviet fighter pilot reported, "Its lights are blinking." It is only natural that Soviet atrocity is criticized for shooting down a nonresident aircraft even if they had confused the 007 for an RC-135. Hersh writes that a similar thing happened at Murmansk. According to U.S. military electronic eavesdroppings, the pilot of the Soviet interceptor, which had approached the 707, reported: "There is a KAL sign on the tail. It is not a military aircraft but a civilian aircraft." The air control still ordered it to be shot down. The pilot then responded, "I don't think you understood me. It's a civilian aircraft!" This is when a Soviet general intruded the conversation. "Do you know who I am?" the pilot replied, "I know." Then, the general ordered, "Then shoot it down." Immediately after this, the pilot fired two air-to-air missiles at 707. one of them hit the fuselage but did not go off. The deductions are correct, a risky flight for fear of being punished, misjudgment of landmarks, incorrect wind calculation, panic, confusion of geography, U.S. neglect to warn, flight in proximity to electronic spy plane, misjudgment by Soviet air defense system and their panic and negligence on the Soviet pilot's duty to identify all through a maze of combinations caused 007 to go down. Ill-fortune settled in upon human error, and products of modern science such as the INS and the missiles have worked in the direction of magnifying human weaknesses. The 007 incident is an example which shows us the dramatic disharmony between man and machine. on the other hand, Korean Air Lines claim that, "Many areas of Park's theory are mere guesses. With all the circumstances telling him that 007 was going through such an abnormal flight, how could he have flown without providing any strong warning or advice. If so, it can only mean that he was just an on-looker at the sight of many colleagues and lives sinking into a bottomless pit." Although Captain Park's theory on 007's deviation is certainly a convincing one, 007's mysterious deviation is project which still needs to be researched and studied in the days to come. only thing is, I cannot help feeling anger at the Soviet Union for not using such methods as forcing aircrafts down regardless of whether it is civilian or military instead of shooting it down, which under any circumstances can not be forgiven. Is the world waiting for Park, Yong Man's testimony? The entire world is waiting for Park, Yong Man's testimony. This, a sentence from an article by the name of "In Search of Hidden Bodies." Which appeared in the December issue of the Japanese magazine "Literature and Arts, Spring and Autumn." Freelancer reporter Kato Akira, the author of the article, names Park as the final witness to shed light to the 007 mystery, and has the key to the incident at the time when those concerned with the incident are eventually revealing their testimonies. He falsely reports that Park has not been issued a permit to leave the country. Up until now, a foreign media has come up with groundless reports that the Korean government and Korean Air Lines have forced this in order to hide the truth. Park, after quitting KAL, has traveled abroad twice. On November 2nd of 1984, the International Herald Tribune published an article entitled, "Park, Yong Man Refused to Testify." "In conjunction with the 007 lawsuits, Captain Park was scheduled to testify but could not due to his resignation from Korean Air Lines. There was speculation that Captain Chun and Captain Park were racing to get to Seoul first that night. There are also allegations that say KAL pilots receive bonuses for fuel saving shortcut navigations. According to a Korean Air Lines lawyer, Captain Park was nearing retirement and was put at a desk job. Captain Park told him that unless they would let him fly again, he would not go to the U.S. to testify." This article also has the air of considering Captain Park's silence as an attempt to reveal the truth. Park says this about his resignation : "The reason I resigned was because I did not want to appear humiliated. I resigned because I felt they were trying to keep my lips sealed by continuing to keep me on the payroll even though I was not flying." Most of the recent articles or books on 007, in common, have Park as the final witness to answer the 007 mystery. As time passes, the mysteries surrounding 007 have one by one been peeled like an onion layer. And in the process, the last layer which hides the core of the mystery naturally led to Park, Yong Man. Most recent articles which are coming out of Japan regarding 007, concentrates upon the final moments of 007. In the beginning, the leading opinion was that 007 had a mid-air explosion after being hit by missiles. But when 007's last words, "rapid decompression…descending" was heard had the facts were revealed by it took 12 minutes thereafter for 007's flight path to disappear from the radar, new theories began to come out. It is their guess that if 007, slowly descending in a spiral, took 12 minutes to fall, the fuselage and the bodies would not have been blown to bits. Seymour Hersh relates the observations of the seamen who were there at the crash location. Appearance of the survivor theory "Oil suddenly poured onto the ship like rain. They heard the final coughing noise of the aircraft's engine. Then suddenly, the aircraft appeared and flew towards the southwest and then exploded as it crashed into the sea. Park, Yong Man explained : "If an aircrafts falls vertically into the sea, it will fall to pieces as if crashing into the ground because of its speed. The pilot 007, which had been hit by a missile, must have momentarily lost consciousness, and judging from the fact that he reported the distress message, it seems to me that he would not have let the aircraft to make a nose dive. It seems as if 007's Captain Chun, up until the final moment, held onto the control stick and made the aircraft hit the water in an angle. There would, of course, be no survivors because of the explosion, but the bodies would not have been damaged too severely. In Kato's article, "In Search of Hidden Bodies," the Soviets mobilized 200 fishing boats to search for remaining articles immediately after the crash. According to information he obtained from a member of the Japanese victims relatives committee, the Soviets were pressing to destroy evidence of their shoot down act (At the beginning, the Soviet government denied the shoot down itself). on this searching mission, the Soviets recovered numerous bodies(12 bodies were recovered in Japan). Autopsies were performed on these bodies at Sakhalin State Hospital near Nebberisk. There are no cremation customs in the Soviet Union and autopsies are mandatory. When autopsies were complete, the bodies were stitched together and put into caskets and buried at the foot of a mountain. Kato writes that there were rumors among the relatives that there were survivors. The source of the rumor is because there were caskets left over after filling them with bodies at the completion of the autopsy. This means that there were left over caskets because they had discovered survivors among the bodies to be autopsied. Being such a brilliant Japanese freelance magazine reporter, he gave some cases which would support such an inference. The Soviet military personnel involved in the search for the bodies were dispersed directly after the search ended. If there had been survivors, they would also have been sent to remote village where there were no foreigners. There had been an incident where ramen, udon and soyo sauce had been ordered from a village near Havaropsk. There are no Japanese living in this village. Could a survivor have been sent to this village?…Such inference method used by Japanese journalist who have little bits of data. Kato says that, since Captain Chun was a former fighter pilot, he prevented the aircraft from disintegrating in midair and desperately controlled the aircraft to low altitude and this is the basis of the survivor theory. Kato sneaked in with a Japanese group visiting their ancestral graves in Sakhalin, but confessed that he could not confirm either a cemetery or a survivor theory. Local people whom he had contacted for his investigation, were arrested and questioned after his departure from the Soviet. It has come to the point where these endless articles are being quoted in Korean publications and has passed the point of being mystery novels. Maybe this is why the words: "World is waiting for Park, Yong Man's testimony" has come to be.