November 30, 2012
SEOUL (AFP) - The crash of a South Korean jet trainer that killed its pilot this month was caused by human error on the part of a maintenance officer, an Air Force spokesman said Friday.
The pilot of the single-seat T-50B aircraft was killed when the aircraft crashed into a mountain on November 15 as he rehearsed moves for an upcoming flying display.
An officer in charge of maintaining the plane forgot to remove a shut-off wire, thus failing to reactivate the system which controls the plane's vertical movement, the spokesman said.
The officer's superior committed suicide on Tuesday, he added.
It was the first-ever crash involving a T-50B, which is a variant of South Korea's first home-made supersonic aircraft, the T-50, and is used by the air force's Black Eagle air show team.
Since its maiden flight in 2002, the T-50 has been produced in aerobatic and combat variants, including the TA-50 light attack aircraft which South Korea has been actively pushing for export.
Indonesia has ordered 16 TA-50 light fighters, and South Korea is pursuing other contracts from the Philippines, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq.
