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Japan Air Lines Flight 123 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Tokyo to Osaka, Japan.

After flying under minimal control for 32 minutes, the plane crashed in the area of Mount Takamagahara, 100 kilometres (62 mi; 54 nmi) from Tokyo. An estimated 20 to 50 passengers survived the initial crash but died from their injuries while awaiting rescue, leaving only four survivors; 520 people died as a result of the crash. The crash is the deadliest single-aircraft accident in aviation history, and it remains the deadliest aviation incident in Japan. National Transportation Safety Board, concluded that the structural failure was caused by a faulty repair by Boeing technicians following a tailstrike 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 hydraulic systems and flight controls.

The Boeing 747SR-46 with registration JA8119 was built and delivered to Japan Air Lines in 1974. On June 2, 1978, while operating Japan Air Lines Flight 115 along the same route, JA8119 bounced heavily on landing while carrying out an instrument approach to runway 32L at Itami Airport.

Flight Engineer Hiroshi Fukuda (福田 博, Fukuda Hiroshi), age 46, was a veteran flight engineer having logged about 9,831 flight hours, including about 3,846 hours in 747s.

They were Yumi Ochiai, a Japan Air Lines off-duty flight attendant; Hiroko and Mikiko Yoshizaki, a mother and her 8-year-old daughter whose relatives died in the crash; and Keiko Kawakami, a 12-year-old girl whose parents and sister also died in the crash. The flight connected two of the largest cities of Japan, and a number of other celebrities initially booked the flight but ultimately had either switched to another flight or used the Tokaido Shinkansen instead.

Only then did the captain report that the aircraft had become uncontrollable. (Tokyo: "Japan Air 124 fly heading 090 radar vector to Oshima." JAL123: "But now uncontrol." Tokyo: "Uncontrol, roger understood.") At 18:35, the flight engineer responded for the first time to multiple calls from Japan Air Tokyo via the SELCAL (selective-calling) system. Japan Air Tokyo asked if they intended to return to Haneda, to which the flight engineer responded that they were making an emergency descent, and to continue to monitor them. The leading edge flaps except for the left and right outer groups were also extended and the extension was completed at 18:52:39 From 18:49:03 to 18:52:11, Japan Air Tokyo attempted to call the aircraft again via the SELCAL radio system. Tokyo Approach then contacted the flight via the SELCAL system, briefly activating the corresponding alarm again until the flight engineer responded.

One of the four survivors, off-duty Japan Air Lines flight purser Yumi Ochiai (落合 由美, Ochiai Yumi) recounted from her hospital bed that she recalled bright lights and the sound of helicopter rotors shortly after she awoke amid the wreckage, and while she could hear screaming and moaning from other survivors, these sounds gradually died away during the night.

The Japanese public's confidence in Japan Air Lines took a dramatic downturn in the wake of the disaster, with passenger numbers on domestic routes dropping by one-third. United Airlines check pilot Dennis Fitch, who was aboard Flight 232 as a passenger, had studied the case of Japan Air Lines 123 and had practiced similar scenarios in a flight simulator. In 2024, the 39th anniversary day climb was joined by JAL's President and CEO Mitsuko Tottori, who began her career with the airline as a flight attendant in 1985, the year of the Flight 123 accident.

The crash of Japan Air Lines Flight 123 appeared in three episodes of the Canadian-made, internationally distributed documentary series Mayday: "Out of Control" (2005), "Pressure Point" (2023), and as one of the seven crashes addressed in the 2007 special episode "Fatal Flaw". The film uses the name "National Airlines" instead of "Japan Air Lines".

Quick Facts

• United Airlines check pilot Dennis Fitch, who was aboard Flight 232 as a passenger, had studied the case of Japan Air Lines 123 and had practiced similar scenarios in a flight simulator.
• The crash of Japan Air Lines Flight 123 appeared in three episodes of the Canadian-made, internationally distributed documentary series Mayday: "Out of Control" (2005), "Pressure Point" (2023), and as one of the seven crashes addressed in the 2007 special episode "Fatal Flaw".
• On June 2, 1978, while operating Japan Air Lines Flight 115 along the same route, JA8119 bounced heavily on landing while carrying out an instrument approach to runway 32L at Itami Airport.
• They were Yumi Ochiai, a Japan Air Lines off-duty flight attendant; Hiroko and Mikiko Yoshizaki, a mother and her 8-year-old daughter whose relatives died in the crash; and Keiko Kawakami, a 12-year-old girl whose parents and sister also died in the crash.
• Japan Air Tokyo asked if they intended to return to Haneda, to which the flight engineer responded that they were making an emergency descent, and to continue to monitor them.

Source material: Wikipedia - "Japan Air Lines Flight 123". Adapted and summarized for DiscoverScroll. Original contributors are credited through the linked Wikipedia article. Read original on Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes were made from the original.