Copter Incident With North Korea

Re “Pilot Describes Copter Downing in North Korea,” Dec. 31:

Why are we making a hero out of Army helicopter pilot Bobby Hall, who couldn’t navigate his chopper, lost a multimillion-dollar aircraft, caused the death of his co-pilot and is responsible for an international incident?

Who trained him--who authorized him to be an instructor pilot? They should face a court-martial for negligence. God, I hope we don’t face another war. We might get lost.

BUS BACHTELLE

Huntington Beach

I was somewhat surprised that our military was conducting helicopter training missions so near the demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea. Relying on visual navigation over snowcapped terrain is difficult and, in this area, obviously quite risky. The military has spent billions of dollars developing and implementing the Global Positioning System (GPS) which can, anywhere in the world, instantaneously and continuously provide to a pilot the position of his aircraft with an accuracy of 10 meters (about 33 feet). Apparently our training helicopter was not equipped with GPS, which can be combined with a small computer to provide a warning of approaching or encroaching on forbidden air space.

Even if the mission was to provide training on visual piloting methods, operating GPS equipment could have provided backup navigation to prevent this serious incident with the North Koreans--unless it was not as claimed just a routine training mission. I hope that Bobby Hall will not be prosecuted for mistakes made at higher levels of the military.

GERALD STONE

La Quinta