The plane was piloted by Joseph D. Tosolini, with copilot Henry Treger, flight engineer Earl Scott, and navigator Lawrence Guernon.

[1] The DC-8 was led to Burevestnik airfield on the Soviet-controlled Iturup Island,[2] landing at 2343 UTC (8:39 am), on the 2,400 metres (7,900 ft) concrete runway.

Food in the galley ran out the next day, and the Soviets delivered military rations of brown bread, canned cheese, butter, weak coffee, beef bouillon, noodles, and cigarettes.

[2] The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which had been negotiated just weeks earlier, had been signed by U.S. President Lyndon Johnson on that day.

[1] A partially declassified CIA document indicated that Deputy Minister Kuznetsov added the personal comment that the USSR "did not wish to do anything to worsen our relations"[4] but expressed it was most important to have a quick reply.

Upon landing at Misawa Air Base in northern Japan about an hour later, Tosolini retracted his apology, insisting the plane had not strayed into Soviet territory.

[citation needed] In December 1968, Seaboard was forced to pay a $5,000 civil penalty to the FAA, as its onboard Doppler radar was not properly certified.