September 15, 2013

The Dangers of Cold War Air Travel


The Dangers of Cold War Air Travel

On this day 30 years ago, President Ronald Reagan ordered the FAA to revoke Aeroflot’s license to operate flights to the United States, in response to a Soviet fighter pilot shooting down a passenger plane, Korean Airlines (KAL) Flight 007.


It’s 1983, and the world is tense. Imagine yourself making a trans-Pacific flight. Purely hypothetically, let’s say you depart from Anchorage and are headed for Seoul. About six hours after takeoff, you hear an explosion, and the PA system starts repeating:

Attention emergency descent.

Put out your cigarette, this is an emergency descent.

Put the mask over your nose and mouth and adjust the headband.

Put the mask over your nose and mouth and adjust the headband.

Put the mask over your nose and mouth and adjust—

What actually happened on KAL 007 after this point is unknown – the tape cuts off a little less than two minutes after the explosion. The aircraft kept going for over 10 minutes before spiraling into the sea. There were no survivors.

But let’s backtrack. In your nightmarish hypothetical, you know that you did nothing wrong. The plane didn’t malfunction. There was no inclement weather. What did you ever do to deserve this untimely end? Let’s be clear: you didn’t do anything. In fact, your identity, the identity of your pilot, the origin and destination of your flight – all that didn’t matter. You were a blip on the radar screen of the Soviet armed forces, an unidentified object in their airspace, and that made you – and everyone on your flight – fair game.

Flight deviation of KAL 007

What actually happened to KAL 007? Most likely, a minor detail was out of place in the autopilot, so that the plane flew straight rather than curving around Soviet airspace. After it had crossed the Kamchatka peninsula and re-entered international territory, Soviet commanders were alerted to its presence, made the assumption that it was a military aircraft, and sent a fighter pilot after it. As the pilot came closer, it became apparent to him that the unidentified jet was not your usual reconnaisance plane. "I saw two rows of windows and knew that it was a Boeing,” the pilot later recalled. “I knew it was a civilian plane. But for me this meant nothing. It is easy to turn a civilian type of plane into one for military use..."

When in doubt, ask – but no one on the Soviet side tried communicating with this civilian-looking plane, making sure it was what it looked like. The U.S. had been pestering the Soviet Union with planes all up in their airspace all year, so the pressure was on to bring the plane down, no questions asked. So down it went.

There you are – one more bullet point on the long list of reasons you should be glad it’s not the Cold War anymore.


Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

Full transcript of associated transmissions can be found on Wikisource

For more on the context of the shootdown, see “1983: The Scariest Year” in the March/April 2013 issue of Russian Life.

Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

Survival Russian
February 01, 2009

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.

Fish
February 01, 2010

Fish

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.

White Magic
June 01, 2021

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

A Taste of Chekhov
December 24, 2022

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.

Faith & Humor
December 01, 2011

Faith & Humor

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.

Driving Down Russia's Spine
June 01, 2016

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 

93 Untranslatable Russian Words
December 01, 2008

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955