Military Band Summoned for Drinking and Dancing; Mid-Air Collision Also Concealed

[Anchor]

Since last year, the Air Force has faced persistent criticism over lax military discipline following a series of accidents, ranging from a fighter jet mistakenly bombing a civilian area to a machine gun falling from an airborne control aircraft. While the Air Force apologized and promised to restore discipline, video footage obtained by SBS of an internal Air Force dinner party last April reveals a starkly different scene. At this "communication meeting" attended by Air Force generals, not only was there drinking, singing, and dancing during duty hours, but military band soldiers were also mobilized. The following day, the wing commander's flight schedule was also canceled.

First, this exclusive report by Reporter Bae Jun-woo.

[Reporter Bae Jun-woo]

Air Force officers dressed in flight suits jump up and down with their hands in the air, while military band soldiers heighten the mood by playing guitar and keyboard and singing.

Officers also form a conga line, moving around in single file.

The two people dancing in the center are the Air Force Education and Training Commander, a lieutenant general, and the commander of the 3rd Flying Training Wing, a brigadier general.

This is video footage from the Education and Training Commander's communication meeting held on April 29 in the dining hall of the Air Force 3rd Flying Training Wing in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province.

The original plan for the event included a meeting, group sports, and an encouragement dinner, but the group sports were skipped, and they reportedly spent about three hours from 5:00 p.m. enjoying a drinking dinner.

An officer who attended the dinner said, "Officers drank about one or two bottles of soju per person, along with a lot of beer and strong whiskey."

Criticism is emerging from within the Air Force that drinking alcohol before duty hours had ended and mobilizing military band soldiers for an officers' drinking dinner—which was not an official military ceremony—could violate service regulations.

Furthermore, it was revealed that the commander of the 3rd Flying Training Wing canceled an "on-site verification flight" scheduled for April 30, the day after the dinner.

While alcohol consumption is cited as the reason for the flight cancellation, the Air Force reportedly did not conduct a separate investigation.

The Air Force stated, "The communication meeting was held to encourage service members whose morale had dropped due to successive flight accidents."

(Video by Choi Jin-hwa | Graphics by Lim Chan-hyeok)

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[Anchor]

It has also been confirmed that a mid-air collision between trainer aircraft occurred at the Air Force 3rd Flying Training Wing, where the drinking meeting was held. Two months ago, two KT-1 trainer aircraft collided in mid-air before making emergency landings. It was learned that an accident that could have easily resulted in casualties has been kept quiet internally.

Next, exclusive reporting by Senior Defense Reporter Kim Tae-hoon.

[Reporter Kim Tae-hoon]

On the morning of September 1, a KT-1 trainer aircraft belonging to the Air Force 3rd Flying Training Wing conducted simulated engine-failure flight training in the airspace near Sacheon Air Base in South Gyeongsang Province.

At the same time, another KT-1 aircraft approached the base, circling to land.

Without realizing each other's location, the distance between the aircraft closed, leading to a mid-air collision where the wing of one aircraft struck the fuselage of the other.

Fortunately, both aircraft succeeded in making emergency landings, and there were no casualties.

However, the wings and fuselages of both trainers were heavily damaged.

The Air Force deemed the damage repairable and redeployed the trainer aircraft to the 3rd Flying Training Wing after repairs were completed.

Although the Air Force reported the KT-1 collision to the Ministry of National Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff and drew up an accident investigation report, it has not notified the media even after two months.

In particular, the KT-1 trainer is a model that requires exceptional attention to flight safety, as four people were killed in a mid-air collision in April 2022, yet the report on handling the accident was reportedly not shared with all Air Force units.

Amid continuous accidents involving fighter jets and transport aircraft since the March of last year KF-16 misbombing incident in Pocheon, voices within the Air Force point out that the collision was kept quiet to avoid criticism of lax discipline after another mid-air collision occurred.

The Air Force explained, "We did not announce it to the press because the aircraft made safe emergency landings and there were no casualties."

(Video by Jeong Sung-hoon | Graphics by Kim Han-gil)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.