Japan Airlines Flight 123

Japan Airlines Flight 123 was a Japan Airlines domestic flight from Tokyo International Airport (Haneda) to Osaka International Airport (Itami). The Boeing 747-SR46 that made this route, registered JA8119, crashed into the ridge of Mount Takamagahara in Ueno, Gunma Prefecture, 100 kilometers from Tokyo, on Monday 12 August 1985. The crash site was on Osutaka Ridge (おすたかのおね ,Osutaka-no-One?), near Mount Osutaka. All 15 crew members and 505 out of 509 passengers died, resulting in a total of 520 deaths. It remains the deadliest single-aircraft accident in history.

Passengers:

The flight was around the Obon holiday period in Japan, when many Japanese people every year make trips to their hometowns or resorts. 21 non-Japanese boarded the flight.[1] The four female survivors were seated towards the rear of the plane: Yumi Ochiai (落合 由美 ,Ochiai Yumi?), an off-duty JAL flight attendant, age 25, who was jammed between a number of seats; Hiroko Yoshizaki (吉崎 博子 ,Yoshizaki Hiroko?), a 34-year-old woman and her 8-year-old daughter Mikiko Yoshizaki (吉崎 美紀子 ,Yoshizaki Mikiko?), who were trapped in an intact section of the fuselage; and a 12-year-old girl, Keiko Kawakami (川上 慶子 ,Kawakami Keiko?), who was found wedged between branches in a tree.[2] Among the dead were the famous singer Kyu Sakamoto and Japanese banker Akihisa Yukawa, the father of solo violinist Diana Yukawa.

Sequence of events:

The flight took off from Runway C-15-L[4] at Tokyo International Airport (commonly referred to as Haneda Airport) in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan at 6:12 p.m., 12 minutes behind schedule.[5] About 12 minutes after takeoff, as the aircraft reached cruising altitude over Sagami Bay, the rear pressure bulkhead failed. The resulting explosive decompression tore the vertical stabilizer from the aircraft and severed all four of the aircraft's hydraulic systems. A photograph taken from the ground some time later confirmed that the vertical stabilizer was missing. The pilots, including Captain Masami Takahama (高浜 雅己 ,Takahama Masami?),[4][6] first officer Yutaka Sasaki (佐々木 祐 ,Sasaki Yutaka?), and flight engineer Hiroshi Fukuda (福田 博 ,Fukuda Hiroshi?),[7] set their transponder to broadcast a distress signal to Tokyo Area Control Center, which directed the aircraft to descend and gave it heading vectors for an emergency landing. Continued control problems required them to first request vectors back to Haneda, then to Yokota (a U.S. military air base), then back to Haneda again as the aircraft wandered uncontrollably. With the loss of control and non-functional control surfaces, the aircraft began to oscillate up and down in what is known as a phugoid cycle, a flight mode typical of accidents that disable an aircraft's controls. After descending to 13,500 feet (4100 m), the pilots reported that the aircraft was uncontrollable. It flew over the Izu Peninsula, headed for the Pacific Ocean, then turned back toward the shore and descended to below 7,000 feet (2100 m) before the pilots managed to return to a climb. The aircraft reached an altitude of 13,000 feet (4000 m) before entering a wild descent into the mountains and disappearing from radar at 6:56 p.m. and 6,800 feet (2100 m). During the oscillations that preceded the crash, the pilots managed a small measure of control by using engine thrust. The final moments of the plane occurred when it hit a mountain as a result of this loss of control, flipped, and landed on its back. Thirty-two minutes elapsed from the time of the accident to the time of the crash, long enough for some passengers to write farewells to their families.