During the rescue, the pilots saved four of the 524 people on board by attempting to save the plane. All four survivors were seriously injured. Boeing 747 operations at JAL ended in 2011 when the last 747-400 was returned to the lessor as part of the airlines efforts to cut costs, with twin-engined widebodies such as the Boeing 777, Boeing 787 Dreamliner, and Airbus A350 utilized on the routes instead. The aircraft, an 11-year-old Boeing 747SR, registered JA8119, was configured for high density, domestic routes. Flight engineer: "It is up!" Few can forget the disaster. So close to home for me, it didn't help me get over my insane fear of flying. Another Story: The Crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123 The Truth About The Deadly Japan Airlines Flight 123, By Phoenix7777 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18241922, the Federal Aviation Administration explains. On June 24, 2022, an oxygen mask belonging to Japan Air Lines Flight 123 was found near the crash site during road repair work. Only then did the captain report that the aircraft had become uncontrollable. 524 killed in worst single air disaster | Special reports | guardian.co.uk Shortly before the plane went down, amid urgent automated warning sounds and crew instructions to "pull up," Captain Masami Takahama can be heard exclaiming "It's the end." A terrified passenger aboard Japan Air Lines Flight 123 - UPI The accident that occurred in southern Gumma, Japan northwest of Tokyo, killed 520 people. Families of the victims, together with local volunteer groups, hold an annual memorial gathering every August 12 near the crash site in Gunma Prefecture. This impact is speculated to have separated the remainder of the weakened tail from the airframe, the outer third of the right-wing, as well as the remaining three engines, which were "dispersed 500700 metres (1,6002,300ft) ahead". was a scheduled domestic Japan Airlines passenger flight from Haneda Airport (Tokyo International Airport) to Osaka International Airport, Japan. I worked as an Airline Support Engineer at Boeing for many years. The crash site was on Osutaka Ridge (, Osutaka-no-One ? Japan Airlines flight 123, which was traveling from Tokyo to Singapore, crashed on August 12, 1985. Press J to jump to the feed. After the aircraft had its engine repaired for several years, it resumed normal operation. But U.S. investigators believe reports of a bulkhead failure are 'premature,' sources close to the U.S. team said Sunday. The crash on August 12, 1985, claimed 520 lives, and the oxygen mask was found near where many victims were located. One of the four survivors, off-duty Japan Air Lines flight purser Yumi Ochiai ( , Ochiai Yumi) recounted from her hospital bed that she recalled bright lights and the sound of helicopter rotors shortly after she awoke amid the wreckage, and while she could hear screaming and moaning from other survivors, these sounds gradually died away during the night. JAKARTA - The incident of Japan Airlines (JAL) flight 123 which occurred today 12 August 35 years ago or in 1985 became one of the deadliest single airplane accidents in history. :22. August 1985: The worst month for air disasters - BBC News Tell your loved ones you love them. Air France and American Airlines each have had 11 crashes, the most among any airline. After more than an hour on the ramp, Flight 123 pushed back from gate 18 at 6:04 p.m.[8]and took off from Runway 15L[3]at Haneda Airportin ta, Tokyo, Japan, at 6:12 p.m., twelve minutes behind schedule. When it finally failed, the resulting rapid decompression ruptured the lines of all four hydraulic systems and ejected the vertical stabilizer. Japan Airlines Flight 123 - INFOGALACTIC Unfortunately, according to investigators, a substandard repair is exactly what happened in the case of JAL 123. The aircraft continued to enter an unrecoverable right-hand descent into the mountains as the engines were pushed to full power, during which the ground proximity warning system sounded, and the captain knew it was too late to recover (Captain: "It's the end!"). An off-duty flight attendant who survived the Japan Air Lines disaster said Wednesday that about half an hour before the jumbo jet slammed into a mountain with 524 people aboard, she heard a. As the flight connected two of the largest cities of Japan, a number of other celebrities also initially booked this flight, but ultimately avoided the tragedy by either switching to another flight or opting to use the Tokaido Shinkansen instead. I don't think anyone has submitted this, but it's a website with many recordings of black boxes and air traffic controllers. Moments later, the plane crashed into the side of a mountain. :16 Hydraulic fluid completely drained away through the rupture. It is the deadliest single-aircraft disaster in history and the only crash of a 747-SR. If mathematical, chemical, physical and other formulas are not displayed correctly on this page, please useFirefox or Safari, 1985 passenger plane crash in Gunma, Japan, JA8119, the aircraft involved in the accident, seen at, A picture of the aircraft taken at around 6:47p.m. Sukiyaki (Ue o muite aruk) | Lyrics, Song Meanings, Videos, Full japan airlines flight 123 survivor interview. God, please save me.'. Just yesterday, in a thread about the first Japanese airliner in 50 years, I mentioned that they're flying 747s on a few short routes because of high demand. The horrifying crash of Air France flight 447 was still all too fresh in everyone's mind when Yemenia Airways flight 626 plunged into the Indian Ocean. `, Cara Mengatasi Cemas Berlebihan Alias Anxiety, Towards Zero Emissions, Japan-Australia Launches Hydrogen Supply Chain, 70 Wild Horses 'Warisan' Pablo Escobar Wants To Be Sent To India And Mexico, 16 Years After Killing 5 Children, This Mother Asks To Be Injected To Die And Approved By The Government. ORENBURG, Russia, April 16 (UPI) -- A teenage dance group in Russia is under investigation by officials after a twerking performance video went viral this week. Withdraw 60 Years Of Honorary Medals For Colonel Paris Davis, Florist Asal Semarang Flooded With Orders After Lapak Ganjar's Repost. :290 The aircraft also began descending from 22,400 feet (6,800m) to 17,000 feet (5,200m), as the pilots had reduced engine thrust to near idle from 6:43 to 6:48p.m.. :310 The aircraft then began a right-hand descending 420 turn from a heading of 040 at 6:40p.m. Image by Eluveitie via WikiMedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. If we are made aware of any, certainly we'll follow up on it. japan airlines flight 123 survivor interview You may additional context in comments. The company stated that they had been monitoring the emergency, and the flight engineer, having been notified by a flight attendant that the R-5 masks had stopped working, replied that they believed the R-5 door was broken and were making an emergency descent. Captain: "No, look." More passengers survived the accident but were later killed as a result of shock, and it was discovered that more survived the accident the next day when the bodies of the passengers were discovered. Max power. All 15 crew members and 505 of the 509 passengers on board died. Some investigators have suggested a bomb was to blame, but British officials assisting in the probe said Saturday the 747 might also have had a structural defect. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.By subscribing, you can help us get the story right. The resulting crash and fire killed all 231 people on board the KLM plane and all but 10 of the 346 people on the Pan Am plane. With many of the aircraft's, The events of Flight 123 were featured in "Out of Control," a, It is featured in season 1, episode 2, of the TV show, The cockpit voice recording of the incident was incorporated into the script of a 1999 play called. Co-pilot: "All loss?" Copyright 2023 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This center was created for training purposes to alert employees to the importance of airline safety and their responsibility to ensure safety. Co-pilot: "All loss?" 2023 VOI - Waktunya Merevolusi Pemberitaan. Despite the risks involved, the Cessna 152 remains a popular aircraft. JA8119 made an emergency landing at Itami Airport seven years before the crash, after experiencing a tail strike. Not many get the luxury of making peace with this life before moving to whatever is next. Captain Takahama also declined Tokyo Control's suggestion to divert to Nagoya Airport 72 nautical miles (83mi; 133km) away, instead preferring to land at Haneda,:302 which had the facilities to handle the 747. Dalam kecelakaan tersebut 520 orang, termasuk penumpang dan pilot, dinyatakan meninggal dunia. :150 Due to the apparent loss of control, the aircraft did not follow Tokyo Control's directions and only turned right far enough to fly a north-westerly course. In 2009, stairs with a handrail were installed to facilitate visitors' access to the crash site. When the faulty repair eventually failed, it resulted in a rapid decompression that ripped off a large portion of the tail and caused the loss of all on-board hydraulic systems, disabling the aircraft's flight controls. I have facilitated urgent discussions between a pilot in-flight and Boeing's technical staff. It is open to the public by appointment made two months before the visit. ), in many cases " like those noted above " it's simply an inexplicable luck of the draw. At this point, hypoxia appears to have begun setting in, as the pilots did not respond. The remains of the aircraft have not yet been discovered. Case Study. The images are now on display alongside with the wreckage of the plane and farewell notes that passengers left. According to the Associated Press, the flight was to be a short one, from Tokyo to Osaka, with a little over an hour in the air. Kecelakaan pesawat Japan Airlines dengan nomor penerbangan 123 pada 1985 dianggap sebagai salah satu insiden mematikan pesawat bermesin satu sepanjang sejarah. There were four people who survived the incident, and they are all said to be doing well. At some points during the flight, the banking motion became very profound, with the banks in large arcs around 50 back and forth in cycles of 12 seconds. Air travel is a convenient and efficient way to travel, but it has its risks as well. Japan Airlines Flight 123: The Deadliest Single-Aircraft Disaster In The aircraft crashed at Mount Takamagahara in Ueno, Gunma Prefecture, killing 520 of 524 occupants. He was thrown from his chair and landed in the bushes when the plane hit the mountain. To learn more see our FAQ. With the total loss of hydraulic control and non-functional control surfaces, the aircraft began up and down oscillations in phugoid cycles lasting about 90 seconds each, during which the aircraft's airspeed decreased as it climbed, then increased as it fell. :324 At this time, the aircraft began to turn slowly to the left, while continuing to descend. On August 12, 1985, the Boeing 747 operating the service suffered a sudden decompression with severe structural damage 12 minutes into the flight. In the case of JAL 123, Boeing technicians mistakenly used two splice plates, which weren't strong enough to withstand the repeated cycles of pressurization and depressurization imagine the way your ears pop during takeoff and landing that airplanes go through as part of normal usage. English: Japan Airlines Flight 123 - On August 12, 1985, the Boeing 747-SR46 on the Tokyo Haneda - Osaka Itami route became uncontrollable after a repair on the rear bulkhead failed. He said pretty much the same thing. The tailstrike cracked open the aft pressure bulkhead. The pilot continued to send emergency calls and asked to be diverted to Tokyo airport. According to Vintage News, the four survivors were Yumi Ochiai (26), then there was a flight attendant who was not on duty at the time of the accident, Keiko Kawakami (12) and a pair of mothers and daughters, Hiroki Yoshizaki and Mikiko Yoshizaki. Instead, the root cause of the disaster that's been described as "Japan's and the aviation world's Titanic" began some seven years earlier. Despite the accident "):299. Transcripts and in-flight audio recordings(posted on YouTube) that were recovered after the crash reveal that the severity of what was happening was apparent (at least for the flight crew) from very early on. In the months after the crash, domestic traffic decreased by as much as 25%. The pilots possibly were focused, instead, on the cause of the explosion they heard, and the subsequent difficulty in controlling the jet. The horrifying crash of Air France flight 447 was still all too fresh in everyone's mind when Yemenia Airways flight 626 plunged into the Indian Ocean. :126,13738 The flight engineer did say they should put on their oxygen masks when word reached the cockpit that the rear-most passenger masks had stopped working. As summarized Britannica JAL 123 departed from Tokyo's Haneda airport at 18.12 and was scheduled to land in Osaka an hour later. Emilia Clarke on why she turned down 'Fifty Shades' role. A differential thrust setting caused engine power on the left side to be slightly higher than on the right side. :96,126, Shortly before 6:34p.m., Japan Air Tokyo attempted to call the flight via the selective-calling system multiple times. JAL had 30+ minutes and plenty of empirical evidence shit was bad for the passengers. At 6:54p.m., this was reported to the flight as 45nmi (83km) northwest of Haneda, and 25nmi (46km) west of Kumagaya. With Jonathan Aris, Denis Akiyama, Ho Chow, Kameron Louangxay. They were upside down two different times before it crashed. JA81-10019 is a Boeing 747SR, one of the aircraft involved in the incident. :30607. The backward shock of the impact, measuring 0.14 g, in addition to causing the loss of the thrust of the 4th engine, caused the aircraft to bank sharply back to the right, and the nose to drop again. (Tokyo: "Japan Air 124 [sic] fly heading 090 radar vector to Oshima." Flight 123 was bound for Osaka with 524 passengers and crew aboard on August 12, 1985, when an explosion snapped off almost the entire upright section of its tail. At 18:24:35, there was a booming noise just before reaching a cruising altitude of 24,000 feet (7,315 meters) and approaching the east coast of the Izu Peninsula. At the same time, a loud noise like a "boom" was heard. The most famous person on the plane was a '50s crooner by the name of Kyu Sakamoto. Japan Air Lines Flight 123 - Wikipedia :297, Heading over the Izu Peninsula at 6:26p.m., the aircraft turned away from the Pacific Ocean, and back towards the shore. On August 12, 1985, a Japan Airlines flight 123 en route to Tokyo from Osaka was crashed in Gunma Prefecture, Japan. The Japan Airlines flight 123 crashed on August 12, 1985, at Mount Osutakayama in Hokkaido, Japan. Poor visibility and the difficult mountainous terrain prevented it from landing at the site. In Seattle, Boeing spokesman Jim Boynton said the cracks were from 'fatigue.'. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id), Tag: 3 Ways To Take In Extra Fabric On A Kimono Sleeve, How To Get The Garchomp Kimono In Pokemon Sword And Shield, The Makeover Song: A Catchy Tune That Helps Set The Tone For Yakuza 0, Who Plays The Kimono Lady In Midnight Diner, Why The Yakuza Stopped Doing English Dubs. With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. What was it like to survive the Japan Airlines Flight 123 accident 15 crew members and 505 of the 509 passengers on board died. JAL Flight 123: Oxygen Mask Found Near 1985 Crash Site - Simple Flying Suspicion focused on the rear bulkhead after pieces of the plane's tail were found along the flight path, indicating it ripped apart before the crash, and Japanese investigators reported finding a series of cracks in the wreckage. After more than an hour on the ground, Flight 123 pushed back from gate 18 at 6:04p.m. WSJ Archive: 30th Anniversary of Japan Airlines Flight 123 Crash Please add japantimes.co.jp and piano.io to your list of allowed sites. Power! Possibly as a measure to prevent a recurrence of stalling, due to the lowered airspeed caused by the drag of the landing gear, the crew quickly discussed lowering the flaps. On board photo from Japan Airlines Flight 123, just before it crashed. Pictures of people only please! It is the deadliest single-aircraft accident in aviation history. On August 12, 1985, the Boeing 747 operating the service suffered a sudden decompression with severe structural damage 12 minutes into the flight. God, please save me,' as the jumbo jet tumbled through the sky before crashing into a mountainside, his family said Sunday. JAL confirmed a report Sunday by the Japanese news agency Jiji Sunday that in 1983 and 1984 cracks appeared in the nose of three Boeing 747s operated by JAL and that they were due to badly manufactured rivet holes in the aircraft skin. Route of JAL123 Sequence of events The aircraft landed at Haneda from New Chitose Airportat 4:50PM as JL514. Who Are The Survivors Of Japan Airlines Flight 123? - Times Mojo We humbly apologize for the inconvenience. Boeing 747-100SRs continued to serve JAL on domestic routes until their retirement in 2006, having been replaced by newer widebody aircraft such as the Boeing 747-400D and Boeing 777, introduced during the 1990s and early 2000s. Flight. The official cause of the crash according to the report published by Japan's Aircraft Accident Investigation Commission is: In an unrelated incident on 19 August 1982, while under the control of the first officer, JA8119 suffered a runway strike of the No. He was born in Kawasaki, Kanagawa prefecture as the youngest among 9 siblings and his parents; Hiroshi Sakamoto and Iku Sakamoto. Suppressing the Dutch roll was another matter, as the engines cannot respond quickly enough to counter the Dutch roll. On August 12, 1985, the Boeing 747-146SR developed mechanical problems 12 minutes after taking off. The Japan Times LTD. All rights reserved. July 17 (UPI) -- CPI Aerostructures has secured a five-year contract worth $21 million to manufacture and supply fuel panel assemblies for Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters. It kept flying in an unusual manner for over an hour after it failed on its first attempt. shows that the vertical stabilizer is missing, Correct (top) and incorrect splice plate installations, Aviation accidents and incidents in Japan, Japan Air Lines Flight 123 Accident (August 12, 1985) CVR and ATC, Aircraft Accident Investigation Commission, suicide intended to atone for the incident, Japan Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism Minister, List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft, Nihonkk (kabu) shozoku Boeing 747 SR-100-gata JA8119 Gunma ken Tano-gun Ueno-mura, Aircraft Accident Investigation Report on Japan Air Lines JA8119, Boeing 747 SR-100 (Tentative Translation from Original in Japanese), Nihonkk kabushikigaisha shozoku bingu-shiki 747 SR-100-gata JA8119 ni kansuru kk jiko hkoku-sho, Dealing with Disaster with Japan: Responses to the Flight JL123 Crash, 1985 Narita International Airport bombing, Aviation accidents and incidents caused by loss of control, Airliner accidents and incidents caused by in-flight structural failure, Airliner accidents and incidents involving in-flight depressurization, Airliner accidents and incidents caused by maintenance errors, Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 747, History of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, Airliner accidents and incidents caused by tailstrikes, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Crashed following in-flight structural failure. JAL flight 123 crashes into Mount Otsuka - HISTORY Their efforts were of limited success. August 16, 2022 On August 12, Japan commemorated the 37th anniversary of the crash of Japan Airlines (JAL) Flight 123 at Mount Osutakayama, where remnants of the world's deadliest single-aircraft disaster are still being discovered. Despite the implementation of more stringent safety procedures, airline accidents continue to occur at an alarming rate, but this trend could reverse as safety measures are put in place. Max power."). This was somewhat successful, as the phugoid cycles were dampened almost completely, and the Dutch roll was damped significantly, but lowering the gear also decreased the directional control the pilots were getting by applying power to one side of the aircraft, and the aircrew's ability to control the aircraft deteriorated. Wednesday is the 30th anniversary of the deadliest single-aircraft accident in history: the crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123, which killed 520 passengers and crew . History. Despite the complete loss of control, the pilots continued to turn the control wheel, pull on the control column, and move the rudder pedals up until the moment of the crash. Almost immediately after the separation of the stabilizer, the aircraft began to exhibit Dutch roll, simultaneously yawing right and banking left, before yawing back left and banking right. lapa flight 3142 transcript; i hate being a bcba; Menu. :319 This greatly excited the phugoid motion,:291 and the aircraft pitched up, before pitching back down after power was reduced. 4 engine on landing at Chitose Air Base in poor visibility. They have no reports of that here. Medical staff later found bodies with injuries suggesting that people had survived the crash only to die from shock, exposure overnight in the mountains, or injuries that, if tended to earlier, would not have been fatal. Japan Airlines Corp. is displaying messages at its Safety Promotion Center written by passengers and a cabin attendant before they died in the 1985 jumbo jet crash in Gunma Prefecture that claimed 520 lives. In all, just four people survived the terror of JAL Flight 123. Japan Air Lines Flight 123 ( Japanese: ) was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Tokyo to Osaka, Japan. Our people have been unable to verify that there were any cracks. The four survivors, all women, were seated on the left side and toward the middle of seat rows 5460, in the rear of the aircraft. Interesting: Turkish Airlines Flight ^981 | China Airlines Flight ^611 | United Airlines Flight ^232 | Mount ^Takamagahara, Parent commenter can toggle ^NSFW or ^delete. Route of JAL123 The flight took off from Runway 16L [9] at Tokyo International Airport (commonly referred to as Haneda Airport) in ta, Tokyo, Japan at 6:12 p.m., 12 minutes behind schedule. Japan Airlines Flight 123 : The loss of the tail fin caused the accident. But 12 minutes into the flight, the planes rear pressure bulkhead ruptured, causing an explosive decompression. The aircraft continued on this trajectory for 3 seconds, until the right wing clipped another ridge containing a "U-shaped ditch" 520 metres (1,710ft) west-northwest of the previous ridge at an elevation of 1,610 metres (5,280ft). Kyu Sakamoto, born Hisashi Oshima - December 10, 1941 - August 12, 1985 - was a popular Japanese singer and actor. The family of another victim, Kazuo Yoshimura, 43, received a blood-stained note in which Yoshimura asked his wife to look after their children. :10809, The aircraft's crash point, at an elevation of 1,565 metres (5,135ft), is in Sector 76, State Forest, 3577 Aza Hontani, Ouaza Narahara, Ueno Village, Tano District, Gunma Prefecture. The flight data recorder shows that the flight did not descend, but was instead rising and falling uncontrollably. The force of the decompression caused the ceiling inside the cabin to collapse, damaging the rear of the aircraft, and severing all four hydraulic lines used to move the flight controls as well as the vertical stabilizer which separated from the aircraft. At 6:55p.m., the captain requested flap extension, and the co-pilot called out a flap extension to 10 units, while the flaps were already being extended from 5 units at 6:54:30p.m.. The worst death toll was on Japan Air Lines Flight 123, a Boeing 747, which was en route from Tokyo to Osaka on 12 August 1985 when the airtight bulkhead between its cabin and tail tore open. Japan Airlines Flight 123 was a scheduled domestic flight from Tokyo's Haneda Airport (also known as Tokyo International Airport) to Osaka International Airport (Also known as Osaka Itami Airport). According to the accident report, "Suppressing of Dutch roll mode by use of the differential thrust between the right and left engines is estimated practically impossible for a pilot. Mayday: Air Crash Investigation Episode (5 parts). The airline said that an oxygen mask was discovered on June 24, 2022, on Mount Osutaka in Gunma Prefecture. Flap stop crowding together." The airlines generally do their own repairs on those, according to procedures set forth by Boeing and regulatory agencies,' Boynton said. [10] About 12 minutes after takeoff, as the aircraft reached cruising altitude over Sagami Bay, the rear pressure bulkhead]] was torn open. A memorial dedicated to the 520 victims of Flight 123 near the crash site on Mount Osutaka. View original page. "The plane dropped from about 31,500 feet to between 23,000 and 24,000 feet in around 80 seconds." Despite the damage, the aircraft was repaired and returned to service. Japan's Aircraft Accident Investigation Commission (AAIC),:129 assisted by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, concluded that the structural failure was caused by a faulty repair by Boeing technicians following a tailstrike incident suffered by the accident aircraft seven years earlier. In the final moments, as the airspeed exceeded 340 knots (630km/h; 390mph), the pitch attitude leveled out and the aircraft ceased descending, with the aircraft and passengers/crew being subjected to 3 g of upward vertical acceleration. After 12 minutes of worry-free gliding, the plane suddenly suffered a severe explosive decompression which destroyed the plane's vertical stabilizer and tore off a part of the tail. ":89 Shortly after 6:40p.m., the landing gear was lowered in an attempt to damp the phugoid cycles and Dutch rolls further, and to attempt to decrease the aircraft's airspeed to descend. Japan Airlines Flight 123 (123, Nihonkk 123 Bin Tsuirakujiko ?) :320 The aircraft's airspeed increased as it was brought into an unsteady climb. The post-crash investigation surmised that an improper repair like this one would mean the plane would only be able to go through about 10,000 more pressurization cycles. They did many special features in Japan today about this including one TV show which was based on the true story of this incident. As for cracks in the bulkhead, Boynton said, 'We're not aware of any bulkhead cracks. | FAQs | ^Mods | Magic ^Words. It took 14 hours after the accident for emergency rescue crews to arrive at the scene. They sat in row A to the left of the back of the plane. Accidents JAL has caused other than Flight 123 Accident Japan Airlines Flight 123 | Roblox Crash Animation - YouTube At times, gravity pulled the plane into a dive before air pressure kicked the nose back up again to an ascent. All our content comes from Wikipedia and under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Tokyo Control approved a right-hand turn to a heading of 090 east back towards Oshima, and the aircraft entered an initial right-hand bank of 40, several degrees greater than observed previously. The causes behind both crashes are still. This life, the only one you've known, is something special. The plane crashed into a mountainside in central Japan, killing 520 people. Around 6:47p.m., a photographer on the ground captured a photograph of the aircraft, which showed that the vertical stabilizer was missing. Japan Airlines Flight 123 - sensagent The lower altitude and thicker air caused the cabin altitude alert to momentarily turn itself off at this time, before resuming for the rest of the flight. JAL123 / Japan: Directed by Daniel Sharp. JAL president Yasumoto Takagi resigned. That's what really doomed the passengers that died on both planes. After 32 minutes, Japan Airlines flight 123 crashed into a descending ridge of Mount Osutaka, killing 520 of the 524 people on board. I would have been the first person the airline contacted at Boeing. A United States Air Force navigator stationed at Yokota Air Base published an account in 1995 that stated that the U.S. military had monitored the distress calls and prepared a search-and-rescue operation that was aborted at the call of Japanese authorities.