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Aviation History
1983
1983 - 1663.PDF
FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL Week ending 10 September. 1983 Number 3879, Volume 124 ISSN 0015-3710 IN THIS ISSUE World News 670 CRAIMFIELD SHOW REPORT 672 Europe's general aviation spotlight turns on Flight's 10th International Business and Light Aviation Show. Air Transport 680 Defence 686 General Aviation 690 AIR TRANSPORT SECURITY 694 IS DEVELOPING SLOWLY Bob Cockbum surveys the growth of airline hijacking, and looks at the current methods of prevention. A WARRIOR WITHOUT RESERVATION We put the Hughes AH-64A helicopter through its paces. Spaceflight Propulsion Avionics Industry Letters Straight and Level 702 Apache attack 706 707 708 709 710 711 Published in association with Aeroplane Monthly and Airports Inter national by Transport Press; a division of Business Press International Ltd, Quadrant House, The Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey SM2 5AS, England World's first and only complete aeronautical weekly © Copyright Business Press International Ltd. 1983 Founded 1909 Second-class postage paid at New York, NY, and additional entries. Editor David Mason Associate Editor Peter Middleton Assistant Editor Tom Ham it I Air Transport Editor David Learmount Air Transport editorial Alison Chambers, Chris Kjelgaard BSc Defence Editor Graham Warwick BSc Defence editorial Mike Gaines Technical Editor David Velupiliai BSc Technical editorial Julian Moxon BSc General Aviation Editor Cliff Barnett General Aviation editorial Ian Goold. Ian Parker BSc Production Editor Philip Jarrett Sub-editor Graham Cowell Art Editor Colin Paine Layout Rita Molineux Photography Stephen Piercey Technical Artists Frank Jvlunger, John Marsden Paris correspondent Gilbert Sedbon 825 5261 US West coast correspondent Norman Lynn (213) 377 8485 Publishing Director John Crookshank Editor-in-Chief J M Ramsden Advertisement Manager Trevor Barratt Assistant Advertisement Manager Give Richardson Advertisement Sales Executives Sarah Beck, Robert Hancock Advertisement Production Howard Mason Advertisement Sales—France Pierre Mussard. 18,20 Place de la Madeleine, Pans 75008, France Telephone Paris 2655014. Telex: 215334F BtSPRSF. Advertisement Sales—Italy Romano Ferrario, Etas Kompass Periodici Tecnici Sp A, Via Nuova Rivoltana, 95, 20O90 Limito—Milano, Italy. Advertisement Sales—USA (East Coast) Dean Kelly. Classified Advertisement Sales—USA Joe Connors, Business Press International Ltd, 205 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017 Telephone: (212) 867 2080. Telex: 238327 Advertisement Sales —USA (West Coast) John Tidy, Business Press International Ltd, 2656 Vista del Oro, Newport Beach, CA 92660. Telephone: (714) 760 9438. Telex: 238327 Subscriptions Manager A. Walden Telephone England (0444) 459188 (UK and overseas subscription rates and agents can be found in (his issue Telephone 01-661 3315 (Display Advertisement Sales) 01-661 3274 (Classified Advertisement Sales) 01-661 3267 Advertisement Production) 01-661 3321 (Editorial) Telegram/Telex 892084 BISPRS G Facsimile (Group lll/ll) on request. Telephone 01-661 3321 IABCI Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations Front cover: Hughes' AH-64A Apache is on the eve of its entry in US Army service. We flight-test the latest in attack helicopters on pages 702-705. FLIGHT International, 10 September 1983 EDITORIAL Despicable ineptitude Disbelief and shock have given way to grief and anger at the loss of 269 lives in the Korean Air Lines Boeing 747 over the Sea of Japan. We take Toss claims that the 747 was mistaken for a US Air Force electronic intelligence aircraft as confirmation that the 747 was brought down by a Soviet fighter. The Americans admit that an RC-135 had been in the general area, but outside Soviet airspace. We condemn the Soviet action, which could be perpetrated only by the most callous, calculating military minds or, as now seems more likely, as a result of extreme ineptitude. In our World News pages, which closed for press earlier, we were charitable and suggested that, when the order to fire was given, the 747 crew and passengers might already have been dead, and that the track and assumed fuel state of the aircraft could have posed a threat of major civil disaster to a city such as Vladivostok. The subsequent Soviet claims of mistaken identity invalidate any such charitable notions. The task now facing the international aviation community—including the Soviet Union, which is a member of the Inter national Civil Aviation Organisation—is to prevent this happening again. We invite interested parties (including several hundred readers in Moscow) to use our letters columns as a forum for debate on how this might be achieved. The details of what befell the KAL 747 may never be known, but a number of lessons might be deduced from intelligent speculation on what might have gone wrong. Supposing that the triple inertial navi gation system was loaded incorrectly, then all three systems could have given the crew the same, misleading, informa tion. The "voting" computer would not come into play, and the 1CT7 avionics integrity would count for nothing. Are INS loading procedures adequate? Have you, as pilot, ever looked out of the cock pit window to find yourself other than where all three INS were conspiring to locate you? Air safety asks that you share your experiences, so that others will be warned. We will respect your anonymity. We cannot be sure that Soviet fighters followed internationally agreed inter ception procedures (Tass says that they did) or that the airliner's crew was able to see the fighters, let alone follow their instructions. Our concern is to question the general adequacy of those procedures, and to ask how many airline pilots could say where the rules are to be found, let alone remember them in a crisis. How many airline crews could correctly interpret the manoeuvres of even the most diligent fighter pilot, in broad daylight? The likelihood recedes in darkness, especially when the airliner crew has triple INS confirmation of good track- keeping. Consider also the possibility of radio hardware problems, frequency incompatibility, and language difficulties. Soviet claims that the 747 was mistaken for an American military aircraft raise questions about the competence of Soviet radar and fighter control, as well as about their pilots' recognition training, even if all the 747's window blinds were drawn. And what of the adequacy of liaison between Western civil and military surveillance radar and ATC systems, which failed to alert the 747 that it was off course? Can both civil and military primary radars, SSR, IFF, commu nications and liaison be improved so that all the right people on the ground get the relevant facts, so that they can warn crews before they enter prohibited airspace? If American intelligence could intercept Soviet GCI stations discussing the demise of the airliner with a fighter pilot, why could they not also warn the 747 pilot that he was off course? If an RC-135 was airborne at the time, was it deaf or just dumb? Was Japanese military ground radar augmented by that of a US Navy E-2C? If so, was that aircraft blind or, again, just dumb? Elementary questions perhaps, but was it technically impossible to warn the 747 crew? Or must we accept that Western military security considerations out-weigh the value of 269 lives. The Soviet military machine normally imposes severe restrictions on the exercise of individual initiative. The possibility arises that someone used more initiative than he had been trained for. Conversely was the Soviet chain of command simply so long that either the orders, or the information upon which they were based, became distorted? And the Soviet pilot failed to use his initiative, and obeyed a ridiculous order based on previous mis-identification of the 747? Some Western analysts believe that the rigid Soviet command structure, which denies initiative to lower ranks, would be the salvation of Western Europe in any conflict. Perhaps the Soviet Air Force has just offered us a crumb of comfort. But killing 269 innocent people in peacetime is a despicable means of demonstrating its ineptitude. 669
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