In South Korea, two F-15K fighter jets collided in mid-air during a flight because the pilots decided to take photos and videos as a souvenir. The incident occurred back in 2021, and its details were disclosed by the country's Board of Audit and Inspection. This is reported by BBC, according to UNN.
Details
According to the investigation, one of the pilots was performing his last flight as part of a military unit and wanted to capture the moment on camera. Returning to base, he began taking photos from the cockpit of the aircraft with his personal mobile phone.
The pilot of the other fighter jet, noticing this, asked his colleague to record a video of the second aircraft. After that, the pilot who was taking photos sharply raised the aircraft higher and performed a maneuver to get a better shot.
As a result, the planes got too close. One of the fighter jets tried to sharply descend to avoid a collision, but the planes still collided.
As a result of the incident, the wing of one aircraft and the tail stabilizer of the other were damaged. The pilots were not injured.
The repair of the equipment cost the military 880 million South Korean won, which is almost 600 thousand US dollars.
After the accident, one of the pilots was suspended from service. He later left the army and went to work for a commercial airline.
Initially, the military demanded that he compensate for the full amount of the repair, but after an appeal, the fine was reduced to 88 million won.
Auditors recognized that responsibility also partly lies with the South Korean Air Force, as they did not properly regulate the use of personal cameras and phones during flights.
The report also notes that the practice of photographing important flights among pilots was quite common at the time.
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