South Korea’s Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) has held a former Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) major liable for damage caused when two fighter jets collided during a formation flight in December 2021, after the pilot carried out an uncoordinated maneuver so his aircraft could be filmed from another jet, according to an audit report published on April 22, 2026.
The case appears in the BAI report Inspection of Illegal Expenditure and Financial Leakage II, listed under the title “Damage to a fighter jet wing while taking personal commemorative photos during flight.”
The audit says the mishap took place on December 24, 2021, during a two-ship formation flight. The BAI report itself redacts the aircraft type and the wing involved, citing provisions of South Korea’s Official Information Disclosure Act covering national security matters.
South Korean daily Chosun Ilbo reported that the aircraft were F-15Ks operated by the 11th Fighter Wing at Daegu, based on its own sourcing.
What happened
According to the audit, the pilot, identified only as Major A, told other members of the formation during the pre-flight briefing that he wanted to film the flight on his last sortie before a reassignment. After completing the mission and returning toward base, he began recording with a camera he had brought onboard. The report says that when the pilot of the other aircraft offered to take photos of him, he instructed the back-seat officer in his own jet to record video instead.
The BAI says the pilot then carried out a maneuver without coordinating it with the rest of the formation, climbing and banking his aircraft so its upper side would be visible in the footage. According to the report, the aircraft climbed from 13,140 feet to 13,240 feet, was flying at 312 knots (578 kilometers per hour), and rolled to 137 degrees. As the jet moved too close to the other aircraft, both attempted evasive action, but the left stabilator of one fighter struck the left wing of the other.
The collision damaged both aircraft and caused repair costs totaling KRW 878,709,963 (approximately $620,000), the report states. That figure included the replacement of 45 parts on one aircraft and six parts on the other.
Why the pilot was held liable
The BAI found that the pilot bore primary responsibility for the incident. It argued that he conducted the maneuver for a personal purpose, did not clearly inform the mission leader or other pilots, and failed to maintain safe separation. The report notes that the officer, commissioned in 2010, had been flying the F-15K from the front seat since December 2013 and had been designated as a formation supervisor since 2018. He should have known, the audit says, that such a roll could exceed the intended angle and shift the aircraft’s flight path toward the other jet.
The pilot argued that he had mentioned wanting a photo before takeoff and that the other crew should therefore have anticipated some maneuvering. The BAI rejected that argument, saying a vague reference to wanting a picture did not amount to approval for the specific maneuver that followed, and citing testimony from other pilots that the move was sudden. The mission leader told the audit that he had been flying ahead in level flight at the time and had no way to anticipate the maneuver, adding that he would have taken safety measures had he been warned.
A 90% reduction in liability
Although the BAI concluded that the pilot was responsible for the full damage amount, it reduced his financial liability by 90%, ordering him to reimburse KRW 87,870,996 (approximately $62,000). The report says the reduction reflected several mitigating factors, including evidence that in-flight filming had not been strictly controlled beforehand and that other pilots had taken photos during previous missions, the fact that the officer safely recovered the aircraft without further damage, and his longer record of service as a fighter pilot that included test flights and contributions to aircraft maintenance.
The Ministry of National Defense had issued the original compensation order on June 27, 2023, seeking the full repair cost from the pilot under South Korea’s Accounting Personnel Responsibility Act. The pilot filed for BAI adjudication in October 2023, and the case was finalized on April 2, 2026, before being published in the audit report on April 22, 2026.
While the audit report is silent on the pilot’s later career, it says he remained in that flying post until March 22, 2022, around three months after the December 2021 collision. Local media reported that he was suspended, left military service, and moved to commercial airline flying.
