Going Public - GPS Declassified: From Smart Bombs to Smartphones - page 83

6

Going Public
The Roots of civilian GPS Use

A little inaccuracy sometimes saves tons of explanation.

Saki (Hector Hugh Munro), “Clovis on the Alleged Romance of
Business,” The Square Egg , 1924

Thirty-three thousand feet above the Sea of Japan, a Boeing 747 jumbo jet
bored its way through the predawn darkness. In the cabin the lights were low,
and most of the 240 passengers dozed. In the cockpit the pilot and copilot ban-
tered with a sister airliner, also bound for Seoul, and hailed air traffic control-
lers in Tokyo to request permission to climb to thirty-ive thousand feet. It was
a routine procedure on the homestretch of a long flight. Having used most of
its fuel, the lightened aircraft could now fly higher and faster. 1
Minutes after completing the maneuver, the 747 was rocked by an explosion
as an air-to-air missile blew a hole in the fuselage and severed the left wing.
The enormous aircraft, which had mistakenly entered prohibited Soviet air-
space, rolled to its left and began an uncontrolled spiral decent lasting more
than twelve minutes before it crashed into the sea, killing all 240 passengers
and 29 crewmembers. 2 The shoot down of Korean Air Lines Flight ke007 by