DATA FOR FLIGHT 007 WAS WRONG, JAPAN SAYS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000200940003-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 19, 2012
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: May 17, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000200940003-7
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WASHINGTON POST
17 May 1985
Data for Flight 007
Was Wrong, Japan Says
Significance of Incorrect Altitude Unclear
By John Burgess
Washington Post Foreign Service
TOKYO, May 16-The pilot of
the Korean Airlines jumbo jet shot
down by a Soviet fighter in 1983
radioed incorrect altitude reports to
Japanese ground controllers during
the flight's final minutes, according
to radar data released by the Jap-
anese government.
The data, previously withheld on
grounds it would reveal the capa-
bility of Japanese military radar,
indicates that the Korean jet
climbed 3,000 feet. just before the
Soviet warplane fired the missile
that destroyed it.
The Soviet news agency Tass
cast t 7e new information as con-
firming Moscow's contention that
the plane was on a spy mission. Jap-
anese specialists called it a signif-
icant addition to the small stock of
facts on the incident but said it was
open to a variety of conflicting in-
terpretations.
The Boeing 747, Flight 007
bound from Anchorage to Seoul,
crashed into the sea near Sakhalin
Island early on the morning of Sept.
1, 1983, after flying for several
hours through Soviet airspace. All
269 people aboard were killed.
Western reconstructions have
blamed the incident on a mispro-
grammed on-board navigational sys-
. tem or other pilot error. However,
because the crew was killed and the
jet's flight recorders never were
recovered, these explanations re-
main speculative.
At 1:10 a.m. on Sept. 1, after
leaving Anchorage, another Korean
airliner flying nearby sent a mes-
sage to controllers that 007 was at
33,000 feet.
Japanese officials say that Flight
007 first appeared on Japanese ra-
dar screens at 3:12 a.m., 14
minutes before a Soviet interceptor
fired an air-to-air missile at it. The
Korean jet was tracked initially by
one of three Japanese radar stations
on Hokkaido Island.
When radar coverage began, the
jet was descending from about
32,000 feet, and traveling at about
430 knots. At 3:15, the radar
showed it to be at 29,000 feet.
Controllers never received any
message from either Korean plane
saying 007 had gone below that al-
titude. Planes are required to re-
quest permission for such changes,
unless there is an emergency.
At 3:15 a.m, 007's pilot radioed
directly to Japanese controllers ask-
ing permission to climb to 35,000
feet. Controllers approved that at
3:19. At 3:20, 007's pilot said he
was leaving the 33,000-foot level.
At 3:23, the pilot reported he had
reached 35,000 feet. But his actual
altitude at the time, according to
radar, was 32,000 feet. The missile
was fired at 3:26 and Japanese of-
ficials say the plane vanished from
their radar screens at 3:29. .
The data was released by the
government to Yutaka Hata, a
member of the national legislature
who has worked with families of the
victims to get more information on
the incident. Some relatives charge
that the U.S. and Japanese govern-
ments have concealed pertinent
facts about the jet's downing. Hata
said in an interview today that the
data proved major discrepancies in
the government's accounts. "This
will be the start of the real truth-
finding," he said.
Hata's group said the descent and
climb strengthened theories that
the jumbo jet was being flown man-
ually during the final minutes.
According to The Associated
Press, Tass reported that in making
public the data, the Japanese gov-
ernment "admits that the South Ko-
rean aircraft systematically sent
ground-based traffic control ser-
vices deliberately false data about
its whereabouts and repeatedly
changed altitude, which airliners
never do."
Tass said these disclosures "in-
validate previous claims by Wash-
ington and Tokyo that the South
Korean airliner strayed into Soviet
airspace due to a mistake in pro-
gramming its on-board computer." .
However, Japanese aviation au-
thor Kunio Yanagida, who wrote a
book about the crash, said that
though the plane may have been
under manual control at the end,
.nothing can be inferred from this
information about how it was being
flown when it entered Soviet air-
space several hours earlier. Alti-
tude discrepancies might be ex-
plained by equipment failing or by
efforts of the crew of the jet to
elude Soviet interceptors, he said.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000200940003-7