[Alberta's Child]

There's no doubt in my mind that the Korean crew was at fault in this case. I don't know what it is about them, but those KAL crews have a serious problem with this kind of crap.

On September 11th, a KAL flight off the coast of Alaska was nearly shot down by U.S. Air Force jets that were scrambled to track all flights in the air over North America. The KAL crew didn't respond to multiple attempts to make radio and visual contact, but the U.S. pilots, perhaps knowing exactly who they were dealing with, showed considerable restraint.

To protect major Canadian cities from the remote possibility that there was a terrorist angle to the whole thing, the plane was ordered to land in Whitehorse, Yukon -- the most remote airport in the area that could accommodate a 747.

Some of you might remember the famous photos of the 747 on the tarmac at Whitehorse -- the aircraft was larger than the airport's terminal building. The Korean passengers spent three days there, and by the time they left they had pretty much emptied every clothing store in the town.

[tommix2]

There's no doubt in my mind that the Korean crew was at fault in this caseI suspect you are right. Having worked with Koreans for a long time in Korea, it seems plausible that the Pilot entered the information into the navigation system incorrectly at the beginning as if they were on the second leg instead of the first leg. Then, even if the navigator disagreed he would never EVER question his superior. That is the way they are. I have seen it happen many times. There were about a dozen legs or chords to the flight route.If they got the first one wrong, the amount off course increases with each leg, so by the time they neared the later legs, they woud be way off course. But they would never embarass the Captain by questioning him. And the Captain would not admit he had made a mistake.The Captain may have realized he was off course and been frantically trying to think of a way out without losing face. Until too late.