Japan Airlines Flight 123 (日本航空123便 Nihonkōkū 123 Bin) was a scheduled domestic Japan Airlines passenger flight from Tokyo's Haneda Airport to Osaka International Airport, Japan. On Monday, August 12, 1985, a Boeing 747SR operating this route suffered an explosive decompression 12 minutes into the flight and, 32 minutes later, crashed into two ridges of Mount Takamagahara in Ueno, Gunma Prefecture, 100 kilometres (62 miles) from Tokyo.
Casualties of the crash included all 15 crew members and 505 of the 509 passengers; some passengers survived the initial crash but subsequently died of their injuries hours later, mostly due to delays in the rescue operation. It is the deadliest single-aircraft accident in history, the deadliest aviation accident in Japan, the second-deadliest Boeing 747 accident and the second-deadliest aviation accident after the 1977 Tenerife airport disaster.
At the time of the accident the aircraft was on the fifth of its six planned flights of the day.[3] There were fifteen crew members, including three cockpit crew and 12 flight attendants.[4]
The cockpit crew consisted of the following: Captain Masami Takahama (高浜 雅己 Takahama Masami) from Akita, Japan, served as a training instructor for First Officer Yutaka Sasaki on the flight, supervising him while handling the radio communications. A veteran pilot, having logged approximately 12,400 total flight hours, roughly 4,850 of which were accumulated flying 747s, Masami Takahama was aged 49 at the time of the accident. First Officer Yutaka Sasaki (佐々木 祐 Sasaki Yutaka) from Kobe flew Flight 123 as a training flight as part of his requirements to be promoted to Captain. Sasaki, who was 39 years old at the time of the incident, had approximately 4,000 total flight hours to his credit and he had logged roughly 2,650 hours in the 747. Flight Engineer Hiroshi Fukuda (福田 博 Fukuda Hiroshi) from Kyoto, the 46-year-old veteran flight engineer of the flight who had approximately 9,800 total flight hours, of which roughly 3,850 were accrued flying 747s.
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. The four survivors were: Yumi Ochiai (落合 由美 Ochiai Yumi), a 26-year old off-duty JAL assistant purser who was jammed between seats; Hiroko Yoshizaki (吉崎 博子 Yoshizaki Hiroko), a 34-year-old woman; Mikiko Yoshizaki (吉崎 美紀子 Yoshizaki Mikiko), Hiroko's 8-year-old daughter. Both were trapped in an intact section of the fuselage; Keiko Kawakami (川上 慶子 Kawakami Keiko) a 12-year-old girl, who was rescued from under the wreckage.[13] Air Disaster Volume 2 stated that she was wedged between branches in a tree.[14] Kawakami's parents and younger sister died in the crash, and she was the last survivor to be released from hospital. She was treated at the Matsue Red Cross Hospital (ja) (松江赤十字病院 Matsue Sekijūji Byōin) in Matsue, Shimane Prefecture before her release on Friday, November 22, 1985.[15]
Among the dead were singer Kyu Sakamoto, Hajimu Nakano, the president of Hanshin Tigers professional baseball club, and Japanese banker Akihisa Yukawa, the father of solo violinist Diana Yukawa.
This photograph shows the plane as it looked after explosive decompression. The vertical stabilizer is missing (circled in red).
In the months after the crash, domestic traffic decreased by as much as 25%. In 1986, for the first time in a decade, fewer passengers boarded JAL's overseas flights during the New Year period than the previous year. Some of them considered switching to All Nippon Airways as a safer alternative.
JAL paid ¥780 million (7.6 million USD) to the victims' relatives in the form of "condolence money" without admitting liability. JAL president, Yasumoto Takagi (高木 養根), resigned. In the aftermath of the incident, Hiroo Tominaga, a JAL maintenance manager, killed himself to atone for the incident,[14][29] while Susumu Tajima, an engineer who had inspected and cleared the aircraft as flight-worthy, committed suicide due to difficulties at work.
In 2009, stairs with a handrail were installed to facilitate visitors' access to the crash site. Japan Transport Minister Seiji Maehara visited the site on August 12, 2010, to pray for the victims. Families of the victims, together with local volunteer groups, hold an annual memorial gathering every August 12 near the crash site in Gunma Prefecture
Japan Airlines no longer uses flight number 123. After September 1, 1985, the flight was changed to Flight 127, now using either Boeing 767 or Boeing 777.
Fortunaly, none of my family members or friends were on that flight.
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At the time of the accident the aircraft was on the fifth of its six planned flights of the day.[3] There were fifteen crew members, including three cockpit crew and 12 flight attendants.[4]
The cockpit crew consisted of the following:
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.
Among the dead were singer Kyu Sakamoto, Hajimu Nakano, the president of Hanshin Tigers professional baseball club, and Japanese banker Akihisa Yukawa, the father of solo violinist Diana Yukawa.
This photograph shows the plane as it looked after explosive decompression. The vertical stabilizer is missing (circled in red).
In 2009, stairs with a handrail were installed to facilitate visitors' access to the crash site. Japan Transport Minister Seiji Maehara visited the site on August 12, 2010, to pray for the victims. Families of the victims, together with local volunteer groups, hold an annual memorial gathering every August 12 near the crash site in Gunma Prefecture
Fortunaly, none of my family members or friends were on that flight.
