Japan Airlines Flight 123

日本航空123便
an incident report by

J.C. Olavides
 Accident Summary
Data Japan Airlines Flight 123 was a scheduled
domestic Japan Airlines passenger flight from
Date August 12, 1985 Tokyo's Haneda Airport to Osaka International
Summary In-flight structural failure Airport, Japan.
Site Mount Osutaka-no-one
Ueno, Gunma Prefecture, On Monday, August 12, 1985, a Boeing
Japan 747SR operating this route suffered an
explosive decompression 12 minutes into the
Passengers 509
flight and, 32 minutes later, crashed into two
Crew 15 ridges of Mount Takamagahara, 100 kilometers
Injuries (non- 4 (62 miles) from Tokyo.
fatal)
Fatalities 520
Survivors 4
Aircraft type Boeing 747SR-146
Operator Japan Airlines
Registration JA8119
Flight origin Haneda Airport, Tokyo
Destination Osaka Int'l Airport, Itami
Boeing 747-146SR (Short Range) - JA8119
First Flight: January 28, 1974
Airframe Hours: 25,000
Cycles: more than 18,800 cycles
 The Cockpit Crew
Captain Masami Takahama
Aged 49
A veteran pilot
12,400 total flight hours (roughly
4,850 from flying 747s)
Served as a training instructor
on the flight
First Officer Yutaka Sasaki
Aged 39
4,000 total flight hours ( roughly
2,650 hours in the 747)
Flew the aircraft as a training
flight in order for him to be
promoted to Captain.
Flight Engineer Hiroshi Fukuda
Aged 46
A veteran flight engineer
9,800 total flight hours (roughly
3,850 were accrued flying 747s)
 Passengers
Final tally of passenger nationalities

Nationality Passengers Crew Total

Japan 487 15 502

China 1 0 1
West Germany 2 0 2
Hong Kong 4 0 4
India 3 0 3
Italy 2 0 2
South Korea 3 0 3
United Kingdom 1 0 1
United States 6 0 6
Total 509 15 524

The flight was around the Obon holiday period in

Japan, when many Japanese people make yearly trips
to their hometowns or resorts.
The four survivors, all female, were seated on the
left side and toward the middle of seat rows 54–60,
in the rear of the aircraft
JAL 123 Flight Plan
Witness photo of Japan Airlines flight 123 missing vertical tail section
Crash Wreckage
Crash Wreckage
What caused the accident?
Tailstrike Animation (during landing)
Rear Pressure
Bulkhead
Rear Pressure Bulkhead
Correct and Incorrect Splice Plate Installation
Aftermath
Japan Airlines Flight 123 is:
the deadliest single-aircraft accident in history
the deadliest aviation accident in Asia
the second-deadliest Boeing 747 accident
the second-deadliest aviation accident behind
the 1977 Tenerife airport disaster.
 As students in the field
of aviation, what can we
learn from this?