South Korean authorities discovered that two fighter jets collided in the air in 2021 because the pilots were taking photos and videos.
The incident occurred while the planes were on a mission in the central city of Daegu, according to Seoul’s Audit and Inspection Commission.
The pilot survived uninjured, but the collision damaged the plane, costing the military 880 million won ($596,000; £440,500) in repairs.
One of the retired pilots was fined 88 million won.
The incident occurred because the pilot wanted to take a photo to commemorate his final flight with the unit.
Taking photos of important flights was “a common practice among pilots at the time,” the audit committee said in a report released on Wednesday.
The pilot reportedly announced his intentions during a pre-flight briefing.
During the mission, he flew the wingman and followed the lead aircraft. As he flew back to base, he began taking photos with his personal cell phone.
After the lead pilot noticed this, he asked another pilot on board to take video of his wingman.
The wingman pilot then suddenly flew his jet higher and flipped it so the cameras could better capture it. This maneuver brought the two aircraft very close to each other.
To avoid a crash, the lead aircraft attempted a rapid descent. But the two F-15K jets eventually collided, damaging the lead jet’s left wing and the wingman’s tail stabilizer.
The South Korean Air Force suspended the wingman pilot, who has since left the military to work for a commercial airline.
Subsequently, the Air Force sought to fine the wingman pilot 880 million won to cover the full cost of repairs. When the pilot appealed the fine, the audit board launched an investigation.
The wingman acknowledged that his sudden maneuver caused the collision, but argued that the lead pilot “acquiesced” to the maneuver because he knew filming was taking place.
The audit committee ultimately ruled that wingman pilots would have to pay only one-tenth of the Air Force’s requirement.
The statement said the Air Force bears some responsibility for inadequate supervision of pilots’ personal use of cameras.
The committee also took into consideration that the wingman pilot had a good track record before the incident and that he successfully prevented further damage by promptly ordering the aircraft to return safely to base.
The report did not mention whether any action was taken against the other pilots involved in the incident.
