New Delhi: History is replete with aviation accidents which have killed hundreds of people and have left many injured. While accidents cannot be compared, there are some which was more tragic than the rest due to the sheer magnanimity of their casualties. The crash of Japan Airlines flight 123 on August 12, 1985, remains the deadliest single-aircraft accident in aviation history and is also Japan’s deadliest aviation accident. The devastating accident killed 520 people while one four people managed to survive.
The previous accident of the flight
The Boeing 747SR-46 with registration JA8119 was built in 1974 and was delivered to the Japanese Airlines in the same year. Notably, the flight got into an accident on June 2, 1978, while landing which injured 25 people on board out of the 394 passengers. Boeing technicians repaired the aircraft and it was returned to service.
The deadliest accident in aviation history
At the time of the accident, there were 15 crew members on the flight. The captain of the flight was Masami Takahama and the First Officer was Yutaka Sasaki. The flight was during the holiday of Obon due to which many Japanese people were returning to their hometowns or heading to resorts. The flight had 22 non-Japanese on board. The flight connected two of the largest cities of Japan, Tokyo and Osaka.
On the day of the accident, the flight was travelling from Tokyo to Osaka. The Boeing 747 was packed with 524 people during the holiday season. After leaving the Tokyo airspace, the flight ascended to 24,000 feet when the first distress call came from the pilot who was losing altitude and was facing difficulty controlling the plane. It descended to around 10,000 feet and kept sending distress calls, asking to be rerouted to the Tokyo airport. Then, 45 minutes after the plane took off from Tokyo, it crashed into Mount Takamagahara near Mount Osutaka.
Due to the extremely difficult location of the crash site, carrying out rescue operations became difficult and emergency crews reached the area 14 hours after the crash. Of the 524 people on the plane, 520 died and four survived. An investigation by Japan concluded that the crash took place due to structural failure which took place because of a faulty repair by Boeing technicians after the accident in 1978.
Japan Airlines Flight 123, a Boeing 747, crashed on August 12, 1985, killing 520 people, the deadliest single-aircraft accident in history. A faulty repair from a 1978 incident caused a catastrophic structural failure mid-flight. knowledge Knowledge News, Photos and Videos on General Knowledge
