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Three months ago, an Air Force fighter plane crashed into a mountain and the pilot in his 20s died.

According to the Air Force, the pilot gave up the emergency evacuation until the end in order not to fall to the side where there are many houses, the Air Force said.

The aircraft that had the accident was 50 years after its introduction, and there are many voices saying that to prevent such a tragedy, such old fighters should be decommissioned as soon as possible.



Reporter Jin Song-min covered the story.



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On the 19th of last month, the bereaved family of the late Air Force Major Shim Jeong-min directly checked the contents of the communication with the black box of the crashed F-5 fighter.



[Sim Jeong-hee / late Major Sim Jung-min older sister: The engine fire warning light came on.

His younger brother now said (in correspondence) that 'a warning has come in'.]



In communication with the controller, Major Sim initially expressed his intention to escape.



[Sim Jeong-hee / late Major Shim Jung-min older sister: Now, at that moment, I urgently shouted 'Ejection, ejection' twice at that moment, and after that, my younger brother struggled to hold his breath.

And now the plane crashes...

.]



Total flight time from takeoff to crash is 2 minutes and 20 seconds.



The emergency evacuation takes only 2 seconds, so why didn't the emergency evacuation take place?



[Colonel Hee-jin Lee / Head of Air Force F-5 Accident Investigation Team: If you look at the black box screen, you can see the private houses on the left and right in front of you.

If there was an emergency evacuation, the plane would almost certainly land on a private house.

(Major Sim) evaded the private house area until the very end, and it is judged that he did not attempt an emergency evacuation even at the end.] As



the cause of the accident, the Air Force had two hair-thick holes in the right engine fuel conduit, and the fuel leaked through it caused a fire. It was finally concluded that the horizontal tail wing control became impossible.



Experts eventually agree that the aging of the model is the cause.



[Hong Gyu-deok/Professor at Sookmyung Women's University, former head of the Defense Reform Office of the Ministry of National Defense: I don't think it can be seen as a mistake in maintenance.

Because I think it is an aging problem of the (model) itself rather than seeing it as poor maintenance...

.]



[Yang Wook / Associate Research Fellow, Asan Institute for Policy Studies: If it has been operated for about 40 years, this is already a dangerous time no matter what life extension project is in the middle.]



Since 2000, 14 F-5 pilots have was honest.



The Air Force holds '430 or more' as the appropriate number of fighters.



There are only about 80 F-5s, so they have chosen to delay their retirement until they have enough next-generation fighters.



[Won-Ik Lee / Aviation expert/journalist: The latest fighters have tens or hundreds of times more combat power than the F-5, and have a value for power.

Think again about the appropriate number of units based on quality rather than quantity.]





[

Yoon Hak-soo/Reserve Air Force Lieutenant General, F-5 pilot experience 28 years: Moreover, Suwon, Wonju, and Gangneung are all (air force) bases next to cities.

National Assembly Defense Member (Democratic Member of the National Assembly): There are practically certain limitations in rapidly decommissioning due to the power vacuum problem, but that does not mean that we can't let it go



. He said that he plans to promote the introduction of the next-generation fighter in the second FX business, that is, at the same time, and additionally secure the light attack aircraft FA-50.



[Late Major Sim Jung-min / Raising while alive: I am an Air Force fighter pilot.

It's always rewarding to finish a flight, but I feel the best when I successfully complete a mission.]



(Video coverage: Hyunsang Kim)