Korean Air jet may have narrowly missed disaster

USA Today ^ | Aug 12, 2002 | Alan Levin

[Prodigal Son]

A string of miscommunications Sept. 11 led to a jarring incident over Alaska that convinced controllers the military might shoot down a Korean Air jet.

Pilots on Korean Air Flight 85 mistakenly issued a hijack alert at 1:24 p.m. ET as they neared Alaska on the way to Anchorage. Military officials, who had ordered two F-15 fighters to tail the jet, told Anchorage air traffic controllers that they would shoot it down if it did not turn away from populated areas, several sources told USA TODAY.

[Prodigal Son]

Part I of this series

Part II

[Selara]

Very strange. I wonder why they kept giving signals of being hijacked? Someday....I hope that a truely gifted film producer will put together all of the ground and air accounts of the super charged drama of the day the skies emptied over America.

[Prodigal Son]

Wow, you read all three of 'em? Nobody else hardly seemed that interested... Maybe I posted 'em at the wrong time.

Thanks for reading them. It's like I said in my first post, first article- this is a little piece of history and actually from a perspective we didn't really know that much about before. My hat's off to USA Today for taking the time to put this account together.

[HogFixer]

Thanks for posting these.

We were watching this KAL flight closely. Maybe now they know how close they were to getting shot down.

[jriemer]

bttt

[Dog]

Thanks for posting all three articles.....

[Prodigal Son]

Thanks for saying thanks ;-)

To be honest, it was a bit of a pain in the bum, but worth it I believe.

[jriemer]

bttt

[Prodigal Son]

Cross referencing related thread:

FAA says it had 11 other suspect planes on Sept. 11

And a shameless bump as well.

[NYCVirago]

Thanks for posting all these articles -- great stuff!

[Prodigal Son]

Again, thanks ;-)