Korean Air Lines Flight 007, en route from New York to Seoul with a stopover in Anchorage, drifted into Soviet airspace over Sakhalin Island. A Soviet Su-15 interceptor fired air-to-air missiles, downing the jumbo jet and killing all 269 passengers and crew, including U.S. Congressman Larry McDonald. The Cold War tragedy triggered international outrage and accelerated the deployment of civilian GPS technology.
For two and a half hours, KAL 007 flew roughly 300 miles off its intended course due to an autopilot programming error, crossing over the Kamchatka Peninsula and Sakhalin Island — sensitive Soviet military zones housing missile testing sites and submarine bases. Soviet air defense, still jittery from a real American reconnaissance plane that had crossed nearby hours earlier, scrambled fighters to intercept the unidentified aircraft.
Pilot Major Gennadi Osipovich later said he tried to signal the airliner and fired warning shots, though investigators found no evidence the Boeing 747's crew ever noticed. At 3:26 a.m. local time, Osipovich fired two missiles that tore the jet apart at 35,000 feet; wreckage and bodies scattered into the Sea of Japan, most never recovered.
The Soviet Union initially denied involvement, then claimed the aircraft was a spy plane. Recovered flight data later proved otherwise. The incident deepened Cold War tensions during a particularly volatile period — just weeks before the Able Archer NATO exercise nearly triggered a nuclear scare — and directly motivated President Reagan's decision to make GPS satellite navigation available for civilian use worldwide.