Lotus 123
Disaster Japan Airlines Flight 123 – the biggest air disaster in terms of the number of fatalities in the event of one aircraft . August 12, 1985 Boeing 747-SR46 Japanese Japan Airlines from Tokyo to Osaka crashed in twelve minutes after takeoff from Tokyo. After another 30 minutes, the crew fighting to keep it in the air, fell to the mountain regions of the central part of the island of Honshu. Of the 524 people on board survived only four – Passengers .
The plane that crashed a Boeing 747-100-SR-46 (serial number: 20783), a special version of the B747-100 with shorter range, suitable for frequent takeoffs and landings. Aircraft of this type were designed in response to the demand of Japanese airlines and were used on short domestic routes. The aircraft was capable of accommodating 563 people. Built a total of 29 units (17 for All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines for 12).
The machine was equipped with four Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7A and delivered to Japan Airlines in 1974, where he was given the registration number JA8119. At the time of the crash the plane had to his credit 25 030 hours and 18 minutes of flight, and 18 835 cycles start/landing.
Flight 123 crew consisted of 15 people, including:
On board the aircraft were 509 passengers, most of them returned to their family homes for the celebration of the traditional Japanese O-bon holidays. Of all on board – it was only 21 Japanese.
Among the passengers was a Japanese singer and actor – Kyu Sakamoto .
17:17 Hour In Tokyo’s Haneda airport, think… Japanese plane lands "States airlines Japan Airlines – Boeing 747 SR-46 (machine number: JA8119).
Time 18:04 After an exchange of crew and refueling jet was ready to take off. As the boat No. 123, the plane went on a 54-minute – the day the fifth – a trip to Osaka, away from Tokyo about 450km.
18:12 Hour Jet took off – has risen to the level of 7300 feet and moved away to the southeast of the Japanese capital. Sailing route No. 123 led first by Tokyo Bay, then – after the turn to the west – along the coast of Honshu. Finally, the jet had to maneuver about 90 degrees to Osaka.
Time 18:24 After twelve minutes of the voyage – the machine flew over the island of Oshima – hull targnęła explosion. The cockpit came the muffled roar of the explosion. "Something broke" – notes the captain. He began to ring alarm signaling dehermetyzacjÄ™ cabin and its decompression, which resulted in an automatic oxygen masks falling. The first thought pilots was that the door has been ripped out of the chassis.
Time 18:25 plane was about thirty kilometers from the island of Oshima, coming to the peninsula of Izu. Flight controllers have received the information about the code 7700 – was the sign of an emergency. Instruments on board did not indicate the reasons for this situation, and the plane began to lose steering.
At 18:26 Recognizing the code 7700 on your radar screen, the controller of Haneda Airport has authorized the emergency landing in Tokyo. The crew attempted to return to the airport, she noticed, however, that machine – behaving in a very understandable way – not turned back, but headed in exactly the opposite direction – to the northwest. Its height alternately increasing and decreasing – sometimes about 1200 m – a flight path has become extremely chaotic. Aircraft flying at a speed of 540km/h The auditors could not understand why the jet behaved in this way – in fact, stressed jet in the sky route on the shape of a sine wave, bending it to the right, then the left wing. Such a route, which is characterized by a sinusoidal plane moving horizontally with the cyclical changes in speed, is known as fugoida (called phugoid) and is a characteristic of the flight path of airplanes that lost stability.
Time 18:28 four minutes after the explosion, one of the flight attendants for the first time since the start of the crisis made contact with the crew. Flight engineer started a conversation with the record shows that the crew was beginning to feel the lack of oxygen at an altitude of 7300 m in the result appeared numbness, paralysis, indecision (despite adequate training, none of the pilots did not establish an oxygen mask).
Time 18:33 At this point, flight engineer spoke a sentence that will be taken into account in resolving the causes of the disaster: "fell off the door R5". But when the team searches the crash site have found them still fused with the wreck, the theory that they caused decompression, fell.
Time 18:40 The uncontrolled flight plane was approaching the summit of Mount Fuji and the U.S. Yokota air base – on the far outskirts of Tokyo. American Yokota Base critical messages intercepted crew cruise No. 123, offering help. The crew absorbed the situation did not meet the American controller. Pilots started to check how you can control the aircraft using engine thrust. They found that when the power lever being pushed forward when machine falls, bow rises and the plane goes out of the dive. In contrast, when you pull the lever back when the machine rises, loses speed and falls beak, aligning temporarily flight. Using the emergency system put forward chassis, which normally reduces the speed of the aircraft and increases stability, but significantly reduced, and so faint, the ability to control the machine using engine thrust. Near the top of Mount Fuji plane made a sharp turn in right and started diving, falling at a speed of 900 m/min (two times higher than normal). Experience the crew allowed to circumvent the mountain ranges. Pilots tried by all means to turn towards Tokyo, but still walking away from him.
Time 18:56 Both controllers of Tokyo, as well as the military of Yokoty irretrievably lost contact with the crew. Despite the efforts of the crew, which helped keep the plane in the air for nearly half an hour finally struck on the side of a mountain at an altitude of Osutaka 1460 m above sea level.
Information about the crash Rescue Coordination Centre at Haneda airport received about 19:15 from the controller of Yokota military base. Pilot military C-130 aircraft of the U.S. Army is located nearby, noticed the fire about 35 miles from the base (the official report that this information came from the Japanese flight controller about 18:59). In response, the National Police Agency (National Police Agency) ordered local, prefekturalnym police units (Nagano, Gunma, Yamanashi, Saitama) confirmation of the event, the start of the rescue operation, collecting information and support to individuals and their share of the fleet. Americans have a corresponding hardware and trained, have offered their help it will come overnight. Representatives of the Japanese government refused, ordering American units back to base in Yokocie, adding that the government itself will hold a share search and rescue.
Meanwhile, at 20:42 helicopter pilot Japanese Self Defence Forces had found the wreck of the plane and handed the basis that he noticed the flames in about 10 places in the area about 300 m². Because of the very steep slope (45 ° incline) captain risked a night landing in a wooded area, especially since he could not see living people, then returned to base. Also, emergency services, not expecting to find anyone alive, stopped in the village Uenomura, located about 68km from the crash site to wait until the morning.
About 2:30 Rescue Coordination Centre informed the Coast Guard about the possibility of passengers suck out, resulting in the aircraft cabin decompression Japan Airlines. Guard immediately sent patrol boats, but about 7:10 the plane, the Suruga Bay and Sagami.
Units taking part in the search and rescue:
Around 10:45 hours, rescuers found a survivor first person, and then three more. Disaster survivors:
According to the report, all four sitting in the rear of the aircraft (rows 54-60), which also helped them to survive because the force overload was undoubtedly lower than in the front.
Until 11:40 hours they were taken from the wreckage and left the scene of the crash at 13:29 on the Self-Defense Forces helicopter. In the village of Ueno were given medical aid, and two helicopters (one belonging to the Self Defense Forces and the other to Tokyo firefighters) were transported them to the town of Fujioka, where two ambulances took them to the hospital (at 14:13 and 14:17).
At the site also found the bodies of 520 passengers and crew members. Due to the type of injury and the place to find – they were divided into groups. Bodies of the victims found in Sections A and B were discovered in the wreckage and its vicinity. Victims of section C found closest to the top of the ridge due to the fact that the moment of impact in this part of the hull broke off and fell over the bow of the aircraft. Bodies of the victims of Section D found in a huge area, the right side of the sloping terrain. Victims of sections AD were killed as a result of shock and overloading which caused the plane hit the side of a mountain, as well as burns caused by the fire, which broke out at the time of the crash. Bodies of the victims of Section E slid the mountainside along with pieces of the plane and were found in a relatively narrow area. In general the victims of these detected bruising, damage to the brain and internal organs.
In Section E, also found all four living persons have been detected in the general bruising, damage to internal organs and bone fractures. Their survival, taking into account the size and site of the crash, as well as the several waiting for help, doctors considered it a miracle. From the autopsy the bodies of victims shows that many people died as a result of hypothermia and injuries, which have suffered no immediate cause of death. The doctor performing the sections said that if help came a few hours before, and more people to survive the worst disaster in the history of a single plane.
June 2, 1978 in Osaka, the captain of the aircraft when landing too high, lifted his beak, which resulted in tail strike on the runway, and consequently a violation of the structure of the tail and the rear bulkhead of the pressure .
The cause of the crash was defective carried out by specialists of the Boeing repair one of the pressure bulkhead – used only one row of rivets, while the two were needed. With each flight tension grew. During the investigation it was discovered that this combination should withstand only nine thousand takeoffs and landings. In fact, a combination of strength over twelve and a half thousand.
In this way, the gap with an area of ​​2-3 square meters, which was the reason for the decompression of the cabin. The air current then rushed to the vertical stabilizer, snatching it from reinforcements. The loss of the vertical stabilizer from the tail fragment also led to discontinuation of the hydraulic lines, which resulted in the loss of hydraulic fluid and loss of controllability.
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