lauren@vortex.UUCP (Lauren Weinstein) (09/04/83)
A couple of interesting recent points regarding the KAL downing: 1) There is increasing speculation that the highest level involved in the missile firing was Soviet Far East Command. There are rumors floating about that the act may have been a deliberate attempt to purposely screw up efforts at successful arms negotiations being attempted by higher level Soviet leadership. Such negotiations could lead to reduced Soviet military spending, something many in the Soviet military would prefer to avoid (in an attempt to protect their own jobs, one would assume). In other words, a power struggle between various levels of the Soviet military/political leadership may be involved. 2) As has already been reported, KAL apparently frequently flew over Soviet airspace, even after numerous warnings. One particularly alarming story is now circulating. The story is that sometime recently on the same KAL flight route at about the same point in the route where the recent flight was downed, flight personnel were running around the cabin getting all passengers to close their window blinders. One passenger (who told this story) peeked out, and noticed that all of the navigational lights had been turned off! If this story is true, it has some rather serious implications. I'm told that by flying their "intrusive" route, KAL makes quite substantial time and fuel savings. Japanese controllers have apparently long known of KAL's "unusual" routing, but KAL has refused to make any changes. None of the above could possibly excuse the downing of a civilian aircraft. But if the latest KAL flight was one in a continuing series of intrusions into Soviet airspace in the vicinity of military operations, the act becomes somewhat easier to comprehend, though by no means less barbaric, since Soviet attitudes towards their airspace are extremely well known. --Lauren--
bloom@inmet.UUCP (09/06/83)
#R:vortex:-12900:inmet:4000016:000:801
inmet!bloom Sep 6 01:11:00 1983
***** inmet:net.followup / vortex!lauren / 9:18 pm Sep 3, 1983
One particularly alarming story is now circulating. The story
is that sometime recently on the same KAL flight route at about
the same point in the route where the recent flight was downed,
flight personnel were running around the cabin getting all
passengers to close their window blinders. One passenger
(who told this story) peeked out, and noticed that all of the
navigational lights had been turned off!
I find this more unbelievable than alarming ... can you imagine the
airline pilot (who constantly uses radar and radionavigation during
flights) who thinks that by blacking out his plane, he won't be seen
by the more sensitive military radar??
Ray Bloom
{harpo, ima, esquire}!inmet!bloom