An audit board in South Korea released a report on Wednesday (22 April) revealing that a mid-air collision in 2021 between two fighter jets had resulted from the pilots attempting to take selfies while in flight.
According to The Korea Herald, the incident occurred when one of the pilots decided to commemorate his final flight before reassignment with a photo.
In December 2021, a pilot began filming himself while on his last flight with his unit.
At the time, he was an Air Force major and was flying wingman for the squad lead.
Meanwhile, the squad lead had instructed the officer in the backseat of his two-seater F-15 to film his wingman.
However, the then-major then made a sudden and unauthorised manoeuvre. He climbed sharply and banked the aircraft to capture the upper section of the aircraft in a selfie.
Because he did this without notifying the other aircraft, the two jets collided in mid-air.
Both pilots attempted evasive action, but the wingman’s aircraft’s tail struck the other jet’s wing.
Source: guvendemir on Canva. For illustrative purposes only.
Both jets landed safely with no one injured from the incident. The incident caused a total of around ₩100 billion (S$86.3 million) in damages.
According to The Korea Times, South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense ordered the wingman to fully pay for the repairs. He then appealed to the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI).
Although the BAI found him primarily responsible for the incident, they ordered the wingman to pay only a tenth of the costs.
The board stated that these commemorative photos were regularly taken and partial fault lies with the Air Force for failing to regulate it.
In a press conference, the Air Force apologised for the incident. It noted that one of the pilots had been suspended from flying duties and left the military. To prevent a recurrence, it said it would be tightening regulations.
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Featured image adapted from The Korea Times.