The Japan Airlines Flight 123 was a Japan Airlines domestic flight that departed from the Tokyo International Airport destined to land on the Osaka International Airport on the day, Monday 12 of the month August in the year 1985. The plane later crashed on the ridges of the Mount Takamagahara in Ueno killing almost all the passengers and working crew on board making it count as one of the major and deadliest aircraft accidents in history.
Cause(s) of AccidentThe airplane crash report showed a number of causes that led to that fatal event on that day as were released by the investigators and included a number of issues that brought about the plane crash. One of the causes comprised of the problem where the aircraft was involved in a tail strike incident where the plane’s rear end had been in involved in striking or touching the runaway which caused a structural failure of the plane forming weak pressure points on the plane configuration bulkhead
Another reason that the Aircraft Accidents Investigation Commission released on their report said that the consequent repairs of the damaged bulkhead of the plane did not abide by and follow the approved Boeing repair methods. The patch that was which was cut into two plates to fix the reinforce bulkhead was not fit since caused metal fatigue on the rear end due to the multiple pressurizations it was subjected to over time flight take offs.
The airplane bulkhead subjected to the pressurization and depressurization gave in in to the resultant forces over time which resulted to an explosive decompression rupturing the flight hydraulic systems which made the flight uncontrollable due to the disabled flight controls brought from the effects of a blown off vertical stabilizer.
Structural and Mechanical Factors One of the major factors considered that were essential to the airplane’s questionable condition is the in-flight structural failure. This was triggered by the consistent and subsequent cabin pressurization and depressurizations that forces stress on the structural lining of the plane’s in-built systems.
The explosive decompression that was initiated by the failing of the bulkhead led to a catastrophic hydraulic failure. This in turn chain reacted to fault the airplane’s control systems. The disabled flight controls made it uncontrollable to the pilots which subsequently led to the accidental event.
Contributing Factors
The maintenance errors carried out on the plane over time like for instance that done on the bulkhead with unwarranted installation of plates for fixing the bulkhead to reinforce it slowly and gradually deteriorated. This finally gave in to the pressure due to a negated effectiveness on the row rivets that were fitted instead of one continuous full plate.
The assumption and neglecting the following of Boeing repairing approved methodologies also counts as one other contributing factor to the cause of the fatal accident of the Boeing 747SR-46 Airplane Flight 123 on that fatal day.
Investigation Board Findings
The board investigated to check on the incident had a number of discoveries which were correlated and brought about by one thing. They stated that the plane crashed due to a sequence of events dating back from the neglect of properly repairing the plane bulkhead.
The Aircraft Accidents Investigation Commission stated that the initial tail-strike that took place at the Osaka International Airport dating back 7 years damaged the aircraft’s rear pressure bulkhead which was later on not fixed using standard methods. The faulty repair led to an explosive decompression that ruptured the hydraulic system lines subsequently leading to flight control being disabled making it uncontrollable to the pilots.
Recommendations The Aircraft Accident Investigation Commission which investigates the aviation accidents in Japan came up with a number of investigated recommendations for the domestic aircrafts for use with the public and mass transport of major big flights.
It recommended that maintenance and repair of minor and major aircraft inconsistencies should be taken seriously and the rules and regulations set by the flight manufacturing companies to be put in first consideration during flight maintenances.
The flight manufacturing companies should always be consulted in the case of need to repair airplane parts and all of them should be approved by them, for example, for this case the Boeing Company stated that the maintenance team did not use the approved technique and approach to fixing the problem.
Outcomes
The aftermath of the incident saw the perishing of people totaling to about 520 passengers with 4 only surviving. The United States Air Force controllers at the Yokota Air Base that were monitoring the distress signal that was situated near the fight path reported they lost contact with the flight after it lost radar.
The flight was spotted 20 minutes after the crash by a United States Marine airplane but no major rescues were conducted on that day due to contradicting jurisdictions between the Japan and US air forces. The delay in rescue operations led to the increased death toll due to the harsh conditions the surviving passengers were subjected to on the mountains ridges crash site and from the lack of fast emergency medical reaction.
The Japan Airlines paid out 780 million Yen to the victims’ relatives in the form of condolence money and the Company president at the time, Yasumoto Takagi, resigned. The maintenance director operating for the corporation at Haneda committed suicide to ask a notion of forgiveness for the accident.
References
Hood, C. (2013). Dealing with disaster in japan: Responses to the flight jl123 crash. S.l.: Routledge.
Page, M. F., Nettles, J., British Broadcasting Corporation., & BBC Worldwide Ltd. (1990). JAL 1 2 3. Sydney: BBC Worldwide.
Spignesi, S. J. (2002). The 100 greatest disasters of all time. New York, NY: Citadel Press.
