The stricken jet photographed approximately 6 minutes before the crash. The vertical stabilizer is largely missing.
Accident
Date
August 12, 1985
Summary
Crashed following in-flight structural failure and loss of all hydraulics
Site
Mount Takamagahara, Japan 36°0′5″N138°41′38″E / 36.00139°N 138.69389°E / 36.00139; 138.69389
Aircraft
Aircraft type
Boeing 747SR-46
Operator
Japan Air Lines
IATA flight No.
JL123
ICAO flight No.
JAL123
Call sign
JAPAN AIR 123
Registration
JA8119
Flight origin
Haneda Airport, Tokyo, Japan
Destination
Itami Airport, Osaka, Japan
Occupants
524
Passengers
509
Crew
15
Fatalities
520
Injuries
4
Survivors
4
Japan Air Lines Flight 123 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Tokyo to Osaka, Japan. On August 12, 1985, the Boeing 747 flying the route suffered a severe structural failure and decompression 12 minutes into the flight. After flying under minimal control for a further 32 minutes, the 747 crashed in the area of Mount Takamagahara, 100 kilometres (62 mi; 54 nmi) from Tokyo.
The aircraft, featuring a high-density seating configuration, was carrying 524 people. The crash killed all 15 crew members and 505 of the 509 passengers on board, leaving only four survivors. An estimated 20 to 50 passengers also survived the initial crash, but died a few hours later while awaiting rescue due to their serious injuries. The crash of Flight 123 is the deadliest single-aircraft accident in aviation history.[1]
Japan's Aircraft Accident Investigation Commission (AAIC),[2]: 129 assisted by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board,[3] concluded that the structural failure was caused by a faulty repair by Boeing technicians following a tailstrike incident seven years earlier. When the faulty repair eventually failed, it resulted in a rapid decompression that ripped off a large portion of the tail and caused the loss of all on-board hydraulic systems, disabling the aircraft's flight controls.
^Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 747SR-46 JA8119 Ueno". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Archived from the original on May 10, 2022. Retrieved June 15, 2009.
^Cite error: The named reference mlit.go.jp3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference japantimes was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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