Japanese Pilot Makes Mistake, Flies 747 Into Soviet Airspace

A Japan Air Lines pilot said today that he forgot to flip a switch and sent a jumbo jet with 132 people aboard drifting toward sensitive Soviet airspace where a Korean airliner was shot down two years ago, killing 269 people.

“I feel a great disgrace,” the remorseful pilot, Capt. Morihiko Nishioka, told a news conference.

As his plane wandered 60 miles off course Oct. 31 toward Sakhalin Island, home of highly secret Soviet defense installations, Soviet fighters scrambled to intercept, a Defense Agency spokesman said.

A warning light flashed in the cockpit and the Boeing 747 scurried back on course and continued uneventfully on the flight from Tokyo to Paris via Moscow.

“I knew we were in a very bad situation,” Nishioka said. “I was worried about fighters scrambling so I told the flight engineer to keep looking through the windows. But we didn’t see any Russian planes.”

The incident shocked Japanese leaders, as the partially government-owned airline is struggling to rebuild passenger confidence after a crash in August killed 520 people.

Airline officials said the crew would be severely disciplined.