Aviation enthusiasts were left concerned after a passenger plane appeared to enter North Korean airspace.
Those following planes zigzagging on Flightradar24 this morning had to take a second look after a Korean Air flight KAL962 appeared to travel across Kim Jong Un’s North Korea.
The South Korean flight from Budapest to Incheon Airport appeared to cut through its pariah neighbour’s airspace without a worry in the world, the live plane tracking data mistakenly showed.
If the Boeing 787 Dreamliner had entered the wrong airspace, the consequences could have been dire for those on board, an aviation expert said.
One Reddit user who had been following the dramatic flight path said that he is ‘praying I’m not witnessing a crash from 10,000 miles away.’
However, before World War Three could break out, it emerged that the plane had landed safely at Incheon Airport in South Korea instead of veering into the isolated country.
It landed in one piece at Incheon at 2.23pm local time today. Korean Air confirmed to Metro that the flight ‘operated without issues.’
Online sleuths suspected that the plane’s transponder experienced a glitch and sent out ‘garbage data.’
But what would happen if a commercial jet did accidentally fly into North Korean airspace?
Bernard Lavelle, an aviation consultant at BL Aviation Consulting, said that North Koreans have reserved the right to ‘shoot down any plane that comes in without permission.’
North Korea is ‘worried about reconnaissance,’ he said, adding that the secretive country is ‘a bit obsessed with that.’
So if an aircraft suddenly entered its airspace illegally, ‘it could end up being shot down.’
However, simply being gunned down is not the only possible outcome as ‘North Korea doesn’t follow a normal playbook,’ he told Metro.
‘Their response depends on the geopolitical situation at the time. If it was a Chinese airline, they would not shoot it down because they have fairly good relations with China, but if it was a Dutch or a British plane then there’s a big risk.’
The US Federal Aviation Authority has banned American aircraft from flying over North Korea and the UK is likely to have advised the same, he said. Airlines have also made their own regulations about which airspace to stay clear of.
If a commercial plane managed to avoid being shot down over North Korea, another risk to the crew and passengers would be being forced to land and being used ‘as a bargaining chip.’
‘There’s probably more benefit for them to force it to land in North Korea and use that as a bargaining chip for something they want.’
Mr Lavelle said the aircraft’s value as a bargaining chip ‘is dependent on which country it’s flagged – if Europe you’re in trouble, but if Russia or China it might be okay.’
A South Korean plane would have been in trouble, he admitted.
‘What would happen if a North Korean aircraft went into South Korea? South Korea would not want to raise tensions. They are always ready to respond, but they would not want it,’ the expert added.
South and North Korea have had a tense relationship since the end of the Second World War and the division of the Korean peninsula.
The countries’ relationship remains on a knife’s edge. It deteriorated last summer after North Korea sent around 1,000 plastic poo balloons.
But South Korea responded quickly and released large balloons carrying pamphlets against Kim-Jong Un, USB drives with K-Pop and US dollar bills.
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