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An F-15K fighter jet on a nocturnal training flight crashed in the East Sea on Wednesday. The two pilots were killed. Four of the next-generation fighters the Air Force is to rely on were delivered to the country in October last year by U.S. aerospace giant Boeing. By 2008, Korea expects a total of 40 F-15Ks, the latest in Boeing's F-15 line that it has been making since the 1970s.
Twenty-eight Air Force fighters, mainly the mainstream F-4 and F-5 jets, have crashed since the 1990s. But this accident is more embarrassing because the F-15Ks are being introduced in a bold attempt to replace all these outdated fighter jets.
The cause of the accident has yet to be discovered. The two pilots aboard the jet were the very crème of Korea¡¯s airmen. Flying at 18,500 feet (6.2 km) above sea level, such veterans wouldn't easily have committed the error of mistaking the sea for the sky -- something known as flight illusion. In any case, the F-15Ks are said to be equipped with state-of-art devices by which the control lever, left alone by temporarily confused pilots, regains balance automatically. It is therefore difficult to guess if the accident was caused by pilot error or defects in the aircraft.
However long it may take, the accident must be thoroughly investigated. If defects were the cause, the Air Force would have to revise its program to replace all jets with F-15Ks. It opted for the jets in consideration of the long-standing military alliance with the U.S., even though the F-15s were narrowly beaten by the French plane maker Dassault's Rafale fighter in the technical evaluation. Some also raised doubts about Boeing's decision to shift the engine from a Pratt&Whitney to a General Electric while keeping the F-15K body. To dispel such doubts, the investigation must leave no stone unturned.
One F-15K fighter jet costs W100 billion (US$100 million), and the budget for the 40 jets with maintenance costs tops W5.8 trillion. Money is important, but this is an important project on which the defense of our air space and national security depends. Korea should be more active and thorough than Boeing in carrying out the investigation. Until the precise cause of the accident is revealed, the import of further F-15Ks should be suspended.
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