Korean Air Lines Flight 902

Korean Air Lines Flight 902 was a scheduled Korean Air Lines flight from Paris to Seoul via Anchorage. On 20 April 1978, the Soviet air defense shot down the aircraft serving the flight, a Boeing 707, near Murmansk, Soviet Union, after the aircraft violated Soviet airspace.

Flight 902 had veered off course over the Arctic Ocean and entered Soviet airspace near the Kola Peninsula, whereupon it was intercepted and fired upon by a Soviet fighter jet. The incident killed two of the 109 passengers and crew members aboard and forced the plane to make an emergency landing on the frozen Korpijärvi Lake.

Events

Flight 902 departed from Paris, France, at 13:39 local time on a course to Seoul, South Korea. The plane's only scheduled stop was in Anchorage, Alaska, the US, where it would refuel and proceed to Seoul, avoiding Soviet airspace. It was commanded by Captain Kim Chang-kyu (46), with Co-pilot Cha Soon-do, & Flight Engineer Lee Khun-shik, making up the 3 crew on the flight deck. The aircraft made regular radio check-ins as it flew northwest, the last of which, five hours and twenty-one minutes after takeoff, placed it near CFS Alert on Ellesmere Island. The aircraft's flight path took it almost directly over the North Magnetic Pole, causing large errors in the aircraft's magnetic compass-based navigation systems. Its course then turned to the southeast and it flew over the Barents Sea, and into Soviet airspace, reaching the Soviet coast an estimated three hours and 1500 mi after its southward turn.