Dear editor,

On March 12 you published my letter defending the F-5 after your opinion writer demanded the permanent grounding and replacement of the F-5, claiming that F-5s are mechanically unfit for duty.

An editor heavily redacted my letter, deleting the most important paragraph ― the one stating that most crashes are due to pilot error. I rewrite that portion now.

Most crashes are not caused by mechanical failure. The vast majority of crashes are caused by pilot error. It is sad, but true. The next greatest cause is weather, which also has an aspect of pilot error, since a pilot should know better than to go out in certain weather conditions.

I suspect that the recent ROKAF crashes were due either to pilot error, weather, or a combination thereof. Thus, the real target of the editorial should either be the pilots or their commanders who sent the pilots out in weather they could not handle, not the F-5 itself.

Matthew Smith
Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province
mattvsmith@yahoo.com