North Korea’s accelerated missile testing may pose a risk to passenger jets in the area, officials fear, as Pyongyang does not regularly give notice of its plans as required under international agreements.
The missile came down 150 kilometers (93 miles) northwest of Okushiri Island at around 11: 27 a.m. ET Friday, according to the Japanese military.
According to data from Flightradar24 and the Japanese Self Defense Forces, and reviewed by CNN, Air France Flight 293 passed just east of the splash down site roughly five to 10 minutes prior to the missile impacting the water. At the time of the splashdown, the Air France flight was approximately 60 to 70 miles north of where the missile landed, according to a review of the data.
Two airways — fixed routes established for navigation purposes — pass within 10 miles (16 kilometers) of where the missile is believed to have landed.
ABC News first reported on this story Tuesday.
North Korea has been steadily expanding the range of its missile tests away from its east coast into Japanese waters.
The North Korean missile reached a peak altitude of 3,700 kilometers (2,300 miles) before dropping into the sea near Okushiri. Passenger jets fly at around 9,000 to 12,000 meters (30,000 to 40,000 feet) .
In a statement Wednesday, Air France said that “North Korea’s missile test zones don’t interfere in any way” with the airline’s flight paths and that Flight 293 completed its flight “without any reported incident.”
“Air France constantly analyzes potentially dangerous flyover zones and adapts its flight plans accordingly, ” the statement said.
Friday’s test wasn’t the first time North Korean missiles have been seen as a potential threat to aviation. After a July 4 test, US Defense Department spokesman Jeff Davis warned the “missile flew through busy airspace used by commercial airliners.”
Speaking to CNN on Wednesday, Davis said “responsible nations” should give notice before conducting missile tests, adding not doing so put planes, ships and spacecraft at risk.
“We did it for our THAAD test over the weekend. We did it with our ATACMS test, or ATACMS exercise that we did with the Republic of Korea Friday night…, ” he said, referring to the Army’s Tactical Missile System.
“Irresponsible nations fire these things off without putting out notice.”
No warnings
The chance of an unaimed missile striking a plane are “billions to one, ” according to CNN aviation safety analyst David Soucie, but the ramifications are potentially huge and create a difficult decision for airlines operating in the area.
