What happened
On 3/31/1983, a Boeing 747 operated by Korean Air Lines, flight KE 007, departed Anchorage International Airport for Seoul via a scheduled stop. The aircraft was carrying 269 people, including 240 passengers and 29 crew members. Shortly after departing Alaska, the aircraft began to drift significantly to the right of its intended path toward Bethel.
This lateral deviation caused the plane to enter Soviet airspace over the Kamchatka Peninsula and Sakhalin Island. During this period, Soviet military aircraft attempted to intercept the airliner. At approximately 18:26 hours, a Soviet interceptor fired at least one air-to-air missile at the aircraft. The strike caused the Boeing 747 to collide with the ocean surface and sink near the southwest coast of Sakhalin Island. There were 0 survivors.
Findings
Investigation into the incident revealed that the flight crew was likely unaware they had strayed from their planned route for over five hours. Data from the flight recorders indicated that the aircraft maintained a constant magnetic heading, suggesting the autopilot was set to a mode that did not account for necessary course corrections. This resulted in the plane following a path closer to a great circle route rather than the assigned airway.
Soviet military controllers identified the intruding aircraft as a United States RC-135 reconnaissance plane. The decision to use force was driven by the belief that a military intruder had violated Soviet sovereign airspace. The interceptor pilot attempted to signal the airliner using cannon fire and navigation lights before the missile attack, but the crew did not respond to these signals or any radio communications.