Pyeongchang: Pilot negligence caused two gun pods and empty fuel tanks to be accidentally released from a KA-1 light attack aircraft last week, the Air Force said Monday. The accident occurred during nighttime drills over Pyeongchang, about 125 kilometers east of Seoul, with no reported casualties or property damage.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the mishap happened less than two months after two KF-16 fighter jets mistakenly dropped bombs on a border town in March due to pilot error, raising concerns about the Air Force's operational principles. The Air Force revealed in a notice to reporters that the negligence of the rear-seat pilot was confirmed as the cause of the jettison. The pilot mistakenly pressed the emergency jettison button while adjusting the heater to prevent air blowing into his visor.

The emergency jettison button is located just above the ventilation section of the heater on the KA-1 and is intended for use when external parts of the aircraft need to be released for a safe landing in an emergency. In response, the Air Force apologized to the public for the incident and promised to implement measures to prevent future accidents.

Following the accident, operations of all aircraft were mostly grounded but are set to resume Tuesday afternoon. This suspension affected the combined Freedom Flag air exercise between South Korea and the United States, which began for a two-week duration on Thursday last week. About 6 percent of the scheduled flights for the exercise were cancelled due to the disruption.

Efforts are ongoing to locate the empty fuel tanks and the remaining five of the 500 rounds of 12.7 millimeter live ammunition that were released alongside the gun pods. The Air Force successfully retrieved the gun pods and most of the ammunition over the weekend.

In a previous incident on March 6, two KF-16 fighter jets accidentally dropped eight MK-82 bombs outside a training range in Pocheon, resulting in injuries to 52 people, including 38 civilians. Both the defense ministry and the Air Force have attributed pilot errors as the primary cause of that accident as well, based on interim probes. In response to the March incident, the Air Force initiated a taskforce to overhaul its flight operations systems.