It appears that Kim Jong-un’s plane may have crashed near Wonsan, but Kim was not on the plane which makes me wonder who was?
Cessna 172 Skyhawk, the type of plane that flies Kim Jong-un around North Korea.
A small North Korean plane, the same type of plane used by leader Kim Jong-un, has crashed, an official said Thursday.
The Cessna went down near the eastern port city of Wonsan, home to Kim’s special villa, on July 15, said the South Korean official familiar with the issue.
The crash was confirmed with intelligence assets of South Korea and the U.S., she said, without elaborating on the assets or the Cessna model.
She did not provide any further details of whether there were any casualties of those who were on board the doomed flight.
Kim was apparently not on board the ill-fated plane. On July 15, North Korea’s state television aired footage of Kim taking photos with participants of an ambassadors meeting in Pyongyang.
On Sunday, Kim cast a ballot in the elections to select deputies to local assemblies, which were held for the first time in four years, according to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.
North Korea’s state media remained silent on the accident. [Yonhap]
The 172 is a very forgiving aircraft. It is almost easy to make an emergency landing with those things, so my guess is it may have made an “emergency landing” somewhere that was later construed as a “crash-landing” which was further construed to a “crash”. I’ve never had to make an emergency landing but practiced them dozens of times (in a 172). If the engine goes out, for whatever reason, that thing will just glide to a fairly smooth emergency landing on just about any flat strip of earth (road, field).
setnaffa
9 years ago
Mcgeehee, that assumes proper maintenance… No FAA in DPRK, and no one to countermand a directive even allegedly from the big cheese.
Liz
9 years ago
Could have been weather.
I’m kind of surprised KJU gets around in a cessna.
How unfortunate if he was not on board…
The 172 is a very forgiving aircraft. It is almost easy to make an emergency landing with those things, so my guess is it may have made an “emergency landing” somewhere that was later construed as a “crash-landing” which was further construed to a “crash”. I’ve never had to make an emergency landing but practiced them dozens of times (in a 172). If the engine goes out, for whatever reason, that thing will just glide to a fairly smooth emergency landing on just about any flat strip of earth (road, field).
Mcgeehee, that assumes proper maintenance… No FAA in DPRK, and no one to countermand a directive even allegedly from the big cheese.
Could have been weather.
I’m kind of surprised KJU gets around in a cessna.