Editing Korean Air Lines Flight 007 (section)

===U.S. Air Force radar data===
It is customary for the Air Force to impound radar trackings involving possible litigation in cases of aviation accidents.<ref name="Pearson, p. 309">Pearson, p. 309</ref> In the civil litigation for damages, the [[United States Department of Justice]] explained that the tapes from the Air Force radar installation at King Salmon, Alaska, pertinent to KAL&nbsp;007's flight in the Bethel area had been destroyed and could therefore not be supplied to the plaintiffs. At first Justice Department lawyer Jan Van Flatern stated that they were destroyed 15 days after the shoot-down. Later, he said he had "misspoken" and changed the time of destruction to 30 hours after the event. A [[The Pentagon|Pentagon]] spokesman concurred, saying that the tapes are recycled for re-use from 24–30 hours afterward;<ref>U.S. District Court, District of Columbia, ''In re: Korean Airlines disaster of September 1, 1983'', February 28, 1985</ref> the fate of KAL&nbsp;007 was known inside this timeframe.<ref name="Pearson, p. 309"/>