Air Force Kept Midair Trainer Jet Collision Under Wraps

[Anchor]

Two months ago, two trainer aircraft collided midair at the Air Force's 3rd Flying Training Wing. Although it was an accident that could have resulted in heavy casualties, the Air Force did not disclose it to the public.

Senior defense correspondent Kim Tae-hoon reports.

[Reporter]

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

At the same time, another KT-1 aircraft was circling and approaching the base for landing.

With neither aware of the other's location, the distance between the two planes narrowed, resulting in a midair collision when the wing of one aircraft struck the fuselage of the other.

Fortunately, both aircraft managed to make emergency landings, and there were no casualties.

However, the wings and fuselages of both trainer jets were severely damaged.

It has been confirmed that the Air Force deemed the damage repairable for operational use, repaired the involved aircraft, and redeployed them to the 3rd Flying Training Wing.

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

In particular, the KT-1 trainer is an aircraft model requiring strict flight safety precautions, as four pilots were killed in a midair collision involving the type in April 2022; nevertheless, it was learned that the Air Force did not even share the accident response report across all its units.

Amid a series of continuous fighter and transport plane accidents since the KF-16 fighter jet accidental bombing incident in Pocheon in March last year, criticism is emerging even within the Air Force that the service hushed up the collision to avoid backlash over lax discipline.

The Air Force explained, "We did not issue a media notice because the aircraft made safe emergency landings and there were no casualties."

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