Desired Track: The Tragic Flight of KAL 007.

On August 31, 1983 Korea Air Lines (KAL) 007 was shot down some 350 miles off course in Soviet airspace by the Russian Air Force. The 269 people on board the 747 all perished. Why was the plane off course and why did the Russians shoot it down? Desired Track offers some answers.

Robert Allardyce, who served for 33 years as a TWA pilot and flight engineer (air navigator) with extensive experience in transoceanic 747 flights, and his co-author, James Gollin, believe that American Intelligence recruited the pilot of KAL 007 to intentionally fly into Soviet airspace to test Russian defense systems. The Russians misidentified the airliner as a military aircraft and shot it down.

They have previously argued their case in a Summer 1987 ETC article titled "Various Perceptions of the Death of KAL 007." Desired Track, a two volume work, extensively reviews the air navigation data surrounding the incident including latitude/longitude positions at key times, air speeds, distances flown, winds, fuel burn, and FAA certified radar returns.

Their presentation seemed daunting at first (I'm more of a social science person), but after a while I became absorbed in following and figuring out the statistical analyses. I came to understand the weaknesses of a rival explanation that a ten degree error in inserting KAL 007's longitude at Anchorage International Airport was responsible for the planes's "innocent" deviation from course. I grasped the authors' conclusions that KAL 007's radio reports were designed to fool ground controllers that the plane was on Course and on time and that another Korean airliner might have been helping relay false information as part of a conspiracy.

Despite their arguments and evidence I'm still not totally convinced that the downing of KAL 007 wasn't just a case of negligence and bad luck. Nevertheless, this is an intriguing book that will have you rethinking a cold war tragedy.