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On 12 August 1985, the aft pressure bulkhead bursts on a Boeing 747SR operating as Japan Airlines Flight 123, destroying the vertical stabilizer and severing all four of the aircraft's hydraulic systems. The crew keep the aircraft flying for 32 minutes until it clips Mount Takamagahara and crashes, killing all but four of the 524 people on board. The accident was caused by a faulty repair to the bulkhead after a much-earlier tailstrike incident.
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TVTranscripción
00:00This is the story of one of the most tragic incidents in aviation history.
00:05Of how a jumbo jet goes berserk, plunging up and down at 7,300 meters.
00:13Of how an innocent mistake made years earlier puts over 500 lives at risk.
00:18And how investigators literally stumble on the reason behind the biggest single air crash in history.
00:26Japan Airlines flight 123 is uncontrollable. Next.
00:56This may be the last video ever taken of Japan Airlines flight 123.
01:01It's late summer, and millions are travelling home for a traditional Japanese holiday.
01:10Something exploded.
01:11Keep up, please! I'll send you a keep up!
01:14Come on!
01:17Japan Air 123, request.
01:20I'll send you a keep up!
01:21The plane is only 12 minutes into its flight when terror strikes.
01:27It's out of control, plunging up and down hundreds of meters at a time.
01:33And it's headed straight into the mountains that surround Mount Fuji, the tallest mountain in Japan.
01:40On the ground, Japan Airlines staff search frantically for the cause of the problem.
01:45In Tokyo, air traffic controllers try to guide the plane to safety, while the pilots resort to desperate measures to
01:53keep the plane aloft.
01:54It's enough! It's enough!
02:00Tokyo, Japan, August the 12th, 1985.
02:04In most of Japan, it's the eve of Obon, when people traditionally honour their ancestors, often returning to their place
02:11of birth for family reunions.
02:17Tokyo's Haneda Airport is crowded, with thousands trying to get home.
02:23On the tarmac, jumbo jets are lining up.
02:25Air travel is so popular here that Japan Airlines has to use 747s even for its short internal flights.
02:35Tokyo Area Control handles all aircraft over central Japan, including those on their way to and from the city's two
02:43big airports, Haneda and Narita.
02:47It's six o'clock in the evening, but the rush won't be over for hours.
02:53Crowded passenger lists and busy controllers make it a typical holiday weekend.
02:58Roger. Approved as you request.
03:01Cathay 456, turn right on the heading 250, climb and maintain flight level 240.
03:11At Haneda Airport, Japan Airlines Flight 123 is boarding.
03:21Among the passengers is young Yumi Ochiai.
03:24She's actually a flight attendant for Japan Airlines, but today she's off duty.
03:37Yumi takes a seat, four rows from the back of the plane.
03:45At 6.12 in the evening, Flight 123 takes off, heading for the industrial city of Osaka, 400 kilometres to
03:53the west.
03:55It's filled almost to capacity, 509 passengers and a crew of 15.
04:01Japan Air 123, contact Tokyo departure.
04:05Roger, Japan Air 123.
04:07Captain Masami Takahama is 49 years old and one of the airline's senior training captains.
04:14On this flight, he'll be handling the radio and keeping an eye on the first officer who's sitting in the
04:19captain's seat.
04:21Yutaka Sasaki is flying the plane.
04:23He's hoping for promotion to captain.
04:26Hiroshi Fukuda, a veteran flight engineer, is the third man on the flight deck.
04:33Tokyo departure, Japan Air 123.
04:36Passing 8.
04:38800.
04:40JAL 123's route will take it south over Enshu Bay, then southwest along the coast,
04:46until finally taking a sharp right turn to land in Osaka.
04:50The flight will take 54 minutes.
04:56Flight 123 is leaving Tokyo behind, climbing to 7,300 metres.
05:0212 minutes into this short flight, the plane's black box shows that all is going well.
05:08Hello, Pat. What's the problem?
05:10Someone wants to go to the restroom. Shall I let him?
05:13The plane's black box records a routine request from a passenger.
05:17He wants to use the bathroom before the seatbelt light is turned off.
05:20Careful, please.
05:21An ordinary request on a routine day.
05:36Something exploded.
05:44Air is rushing out of the cabin.
05:47The oxygen masks drop down automatically when the air pressure falls.
05:58The explosion, the sudden loss of pressure in the cabin.
06:02There must be a hole in the aircraft.
06:10The pilot's first thought is that the landing gear doors have blown off.
06:15Squawk 7-7.
06:177-7-0 is the emergency code.
06:20When the crew radios this code to the ground, air traffic control will know the plane is in trouble.
06:30Every plane on the controller's screen carries a label, giving the plane's identity.
06:35Suddenly, the label beneath Flight 123 changes.
06:39Someone in the cockpit has keyed in the emergency signal.
06:49The plane's crew members are baffled.
06:52They know only that there's been a loud noise, some sort of explosion,
06:56a subsequent drop in cabin pressure, and a growing loss of control.
07:01Yet their instruments offer no clues to the mystery.
07:05Engines.
07:08Ominously, the pilots can't get the plane to respond.
07:11It's dropping!
07:12Right turn! Right turn!
07:14Hydraulic pressure! It's dropping!
07:16The plane's flight controls are powered by hydraulic pressure.
07:20The elevator, which makes the plane go up and down.
07:23The rudder and ailerons, which make it turn.
07:26On a big modern jet, all these are too heavy to operate with cables and levers.
07:30Instead, they're controlled by hydraulic fluid, which flows in pipes around the aircraft.
07:36It's the lifeblood of the plane.
07:40Tokyo, you can't hear one, two, three. Request immediately.
07:43Trouble. Request return back to Haneda. Move over.
07:47Roger. Approved as you request. Turn right heading 090.
07:51Put the mask on, secures.
07:53Put the bank around your head like this.
07:56Don't bank so much. Yes.
07:57Crew members, please, help out with the oxygen bottles.
08:01Prepare the oxygen bottles free!
08:04Don't bank so much. Turn it back.
08:07It won't go back.
08:08Nothing seems to be working.
08:10All the controls are dead.
08:12They're 7,300 metres up in the air, travelling at nearly 540 kilometres an hour, and unable to control the
08:20plane.
08:20Turn right, descend.
08:21In the growing uncertainty of the situation, the pilots know they need to get down fast.
08:27The controller is puzzled.
08:30Instead of making the anticipated 180 degree turn back to the airport, the plane now veers off its course, but
08:36not towards Haneda.
08:40No. No. Uh, 123. Negative. Negative. Negative.
08:45Please confirm that you are declaring emergency. That's right?
08:48That's affirmative.
08:50Request the nature of your emergency.
08:52Hydronic pressure all lost.
08:54All lost.
08:55No. Look.
08:57All lost. Yes!
08:59The company, please, make a request to the company, please.
09:03Do you want to make a fuss?
09:04The crew seem paralysed, and don't radio the airline or answer the tower.
09:10The officials on the ground don't know that the plane has lost its hydraulic power, but their screens tell them
09:16it's flying erratically, and is possibly out of control.
09:20Right turn, descend.
09:23Look at his altitude. Up and down, up and down.
09:27Put down, on control!
09:29Put your heart into it or it stops!
09:31The hydraulics failure has caused a serious problem.
09:35For the last few minutes, the plane has begun flying in an alarming pattern.
09:40First, it climbs steeply, then tips over and goes into a terrifying dive of 1,200 meters, only to level
09:48off and begin to climb again.
09:49This repeats itself over and over again.
09:52The pilots cannot understand this bizarre behavior, and they are powerless to stop it.
09:58Woah!
10:11Tokyo Area Control, August 12, 1985.
10:15The controller receives an emergency signal from a jumbo jet that left Haneda airport 13 minutes ago.
10:29In the cabin, confusion and panic spread like wildfire.
10:36There's been an explosion and now some passengers are gasping for air.
10:45The plane's precious hydraulic fluid is gone. That's why the flight controls aren't working properly.
10:51Don't bang so much. Turn it back. It won't go back.
10:55Airline personnel are trained to take charge in a crisis and passenger Yumi Ochiai helps out even though off duty.
11:03At Tokyo Control, the controller is now joined by his supervisor.
11:09JAL 123, he's declared an emergency. He says it's uncontrollable. He says he wants to go back to Haneda, but
11:15his heading is all wrong. He can't seem to turn.
11:18Going to Nagoya, that'll be the easiest. It's a straight line.
11:22The best solution would be for the plane to switch course to Nagoya airport, which is 128 kilometers straight ahead.
11:31But they'd need to start descending immediately if they're going to land there.
11:41Right. Your position, 72. 72 miles to Nagoya. Can you run that Nagoya?
11:47Negative. Request back to Haneda.
11:51It's a wrong runway.
11:55The captain wants to try to get back to Haneda. It's a large airport and ideally suited for a Jumbo
12:01747 in an emergency. But it's in the opposite direction.
12:07If he can get it down.
12:09123, can you descend?
12:12But the black box shows that he doesn't descend. Without control of the aircraft, they can't.
12:22It's been five minutes since the explosion. And a flight attendant is finally able to call the cockpit with news
12:28about what's happened to the plane.
12:35Yes, what is it?
12:38The flight attendant tells the engineer that the explosion has occurred in the rear of the plane and may have
12:44come from the baggage compartment.
12:45Uh, so...
12:47There's a baggage compartment now further to the rear.
12:50Listen, right now the baggage compartment right at the back has collapsed. I think we're better descending.
12:55They need to get down quickly before the passengers become unconscious. But the captain seems to be struck by a
13:00strange paralysis.
13:02All the passengers are using their masks. Shall we descend a little?
13:07The captain does not reply. It's possible that by now he and his crew are suffering from hypoxia or lack
13:14of oxygen to the brain.
13:16The R5 head?
13:18At this altitude, the oxygen in their blood starts to fall. First, their judgment may become impaired. Eventually, they may
13:27lose consciousness.
13:28The R5 head? Yes, I understand.
13:33Captain, the R5 master, stop!
13:37At the R5 door, the situation is becoming critical. The oxygen supply has failed.
13:46The cabin crew have to give the passengers whiffs of oxygen from a gas bottle.
13:54Still, the captain and his crew seem to be drowning in confusion.
13:59I think we better make an emergency descent.
14:02Yes.
14:03Shall we use our mask too?
14:05We better.
14:07I think we better use the oxygen mask.
14:09Yes.
14:11But they don't put on their masks. No one knows why.
14:15It might be indecision or hypoxia beginning to cloud their judgment.
14:23At Japan Airlines in Tokyo, flight operations have been alerted to the emergency, but are as mystified as everyone else
14:29on the ground.
14:32All they know is that over 500 lives are at stake.
14:36It's their job to try to diagnose the problem and come up with a solution while the plane is in
14:41the air.
14:41This is Japan Air Tokyo. Tokyo Control said they received an emergency call from you.
14:46Listen. Right now, the R5 door has broken.
14:51Roger, is the captain returning to Tokyo?
14:54What?
14:55Can you return to Haneda?
14:57Just a moment. We are making an emergency descent.
15:01We'll contact you again in a little while. Keep monitoring us, please.
15:05Roger.
15:07R5 door. Could it have come off?
15:11If the door has come off, that could mean an explosive decompression of the cabin
15:15as the air rushes out.
15:17Passengers may have been sucked out kilometers above the ground.
15:21But there's a worse possibility.
15:23If the door hit the tail of the aircraft, it could have damaged it.
15:27The tail keeps the plane stable.
15:29Its rudder and elevators make the plane go up and down or side to side.
15:33If the tail is damaged, flight operations will be powerless to assist them.
15:42In Tokyo, news that a Japan Airlines jumbo jet is in trouble has leaked almost immediately.
15:49Japanese television is already breaking into regular programming with live interviews.
15:54Someone saw the crippled jet fly overhead.
15:56I knew the plane was in trouble. He is saying it was swaying back and forth.
16:02Then it disappeared in a cloud.
16:06Flight 123's meandering route has put it in range of an American air force base at Yokota on the northern
16:13outskirts of Tokyo.
16:16An American controller there has overheard the conversations between the plane and Tokyo air traffic control.
16:23He wants to help to offer Yokota runway for landing.
16:27Japan Air 123, Japan Air 123, Yokota approach. If you hear me, contact Yokota.
16:36The pilots are preoccupied and don't respond.
16:40Since they've lost all normal control of the plane, they're now testing the throttles to see what happens.
16:46They can make the plane go faster or slower. At least they have speed at their command.
16:52As they experiment, they find that if they push the throttles forward when the plane is diving, making the engines
16:58go faster,
16:59it actually makes the plane come out of the dive and brings the nose up.
17:05And if they pull back the throttles when it's climbing, slowing the engines, the nose tips and begins to dive.
17:13These actions are the opposite of what a pilot would normally do, but it seems to work and they begin
17:19to flatten out the mad roller coaster ride.
17:23Then a second experiment. By applying more thrust to the engines on the left side of the aircraft, they manage
17:30to slowly turn the plane right in the general direction of Tokyo.
17:36But then their luck runs out. In the frantic juggling of throttles, the pilots get out of step. It drives
17:42the 747 into a frenzy.
17:51Lowering the landing gear should slow the plane down and make it more stable.
17:56Doesn't work.
17:59Should I lower the alternate?
18:01For safety, 747s employ an electrically run system, separate from the hydraulics, that can lower the landing gear in an
18:09emergency.
18:10While the engines are turning, they still have electric power.
18:15Lowering the landing gear helps stabilize the plane.
18:18The drag of the undercarriage has a dampening effect on the pitching motion.
18:23But it also destroys the directional control they were getting by applying more power to one side of the aircraft.
18:29Max power!
18:30Close to Mount Fuji, the tallest mountain in Japan, the plane makes an abrupt turn to the right and begins
18:37a terrifying dive.
18:43The plane is falling at 900 meters a minute, twice the normal rate of descent.
18:50We're going down!
18:53Heavy!
18:54Get the wheel up all the way!
18:55All the way! It's all the way!
18:57Heavy!
18:58Get the gear down!
19:00Get us down!
19:02There is no need for a belt!
19:04The plane's black box records the flight attendant still trying to calm the passengers.
19:12Japan air, one, two, three. Uncontrollable!
19:17Just as suddenly, the plane comes out of its dive. They've dropped over 3,000 meters. They're now in amongst
19:25towering mountains. But at least there's more oxygen at this altitude. The pilots have been fighting the plane for an
19:31intense 22 minutes since the explosion.
19:36The planes go at this tower!
19:37This made me hopeless! Hydraulic fluid is all gone! It's uncle Toronova!
19:49Applying maximum power in order to lift the nose is their only option.
20:05In their efforts to control the plane, they've allowed the speed to drop too much.
20:09To escape the mountain, they need maximum power to generate more speed and more lift.
20:20It's first on the way!
20:23Do you think I'll let it do it?
20:26Don't lower the mountain!
20:28It's lowering!
20:29Going down!
20:32The passengers grasp the seriousness of the situation.
20:36Many of them prepare for the end.
20:39But increasing power to avoid the mountains has caused the plane to resume its wayward up and down motions.
20:48Having run out of options, the crew is forced to repeat the same futile procedures.
20:53Over and over.
20:55They've been fighting the plane for nearly 30 minutes now.
21:00Japan Air 123, Japan Air 123, Yokota.
21:03The air traffic controllers, Japanese and American, are desperate to help.
21:07To give flight 123 any information or reassurance they can.
21:12Request a radar vector to Haneda.
21:15Roger. Understood. Keep heading 090.
21:19But frustratingly, the plane continues heading off to the northwest, away from both Haneda Airport and Yokota Air Base.
21:26Now, with every rise and fall of the plane, they're barely above the mountaintops.
21:32Can you control the aircraft now?
21:37An ominous silence descends on area control.
21:40Japan Air 123, switch your radio frequency to 119.7.
21:47119.7, please.
21:51They try changing radio frequency.
21:58If you can, change the frequency to 119.7.
22:05There is no reply.
22:07If you read, come up on 119.7.
22:11We are all ready.
22:21Japan Air 123, yes.
22:24We've selected 119.7.
22:28What is our position?
22:30Your position, five, uh, four, five miles northwest of Haneda.
22:36In the tensions of the moment, the controller is a bit confused and mistakes the plane's distance from Haneda.
22:43North-west of Haneda?
22:46How many miles?
22:47Yes, that is correct.
22:50On our radar, you're 55, five, five miles northwest.
22:54We are ready for your approach at any time.
22:57Yokota is also available for landing.
22:59Let us know your intentions.
23:01Over.
23:02At Haneda Airport, emergency services are being mobilized for the plane, wherever it can touch down.
23:09Yes, roger.
23:10They say we're 25 miles west of Kumagaya.
23:14Suddenly, the plane goes into a steep dive, the worst yet.
23:18Stop the flap!
23:19Power!
23:20Flip up!
23:21Flip up!
23:21Flip up!
23:22Power!
23:23The plane is falling at 5,500 meters a minute.
23:27Freeze now!
23:31Flip up!
23:36Flip up!
23:36Flip up!
23:37Flip up!
23:38Flip up!
23:38Flip up!
23:38Hit it up!
23:43Freeze the nose!
23:44Freeze the nose!
24:10Japan Air 123, Japan Air 123, can you hear me?
24:14Japan Air 123, Japan Air 123, do you read?
24:18Japan Air 123.
24:20Japan Air 123.
24:23Japan Air 123 is gone.
24:39At Tokyo Control, they've lost contact with a Japan Airlines jumbo jet full of passengers.
24:45An American plane flying in the area has been listening in to the drama of Flight 123 and reports seeing
24:52flames in the mountains some hundred kilometers west of Tokyo.
24:59One of the C-130 pilots later said that they even guided a rescue helicopter to the scene.
25:06And American Marines stood by ready to rappel down to the burning wreckage, but before they could do so, they
25:13were ordered to return to base.
25:19Rivalry between the various Japanese emergency forces is reported to have caused confusion and delays as the victims of the
25:26crash wait for help.
25:31During the night, the Japanese self-defense force arrives on the scene.
25:35A helicopter flown by Captain Isuzu Amori finds the crash site.
25:39The pilot radios in.
25:42Minio Kayama, Victor 107, I see something.
25:47I see flames in about 10 spots over an area of about 300 meters square.
25:53Victor 107, Minio Kayama, is there any sign of survivors?
25:57Victor 107, no signs of survivors.
26:00Visibility poor.
26:02Too much smoke.
26:04Victor 107, can you land to investigate?
26:07Not a chance.
26:09It's a 45-degree slope down there.
26:12No more to put down.
26:13And there's fire everywhere.
26:24Seeing no sign of survivors and unwilling to risk a landing at night, Captain Amori returns to base.
26:38Meanwhile, a team of rescuers is on its way by road.
26:42But since they don't expect to find anyone alive, they spend the night in a village 68 kilometers from the
26:48crash site.
26:59At the crash site, the passengers of Flight 123 lie dying.
27:18The next morning, the last moments of Flight 123 start to become clear.
27:23The 747s sliced a path through the trees near the top of Mount Osutaka, one of the mountains north of
27:30Mount Fuji.
27:32The plane finally hit a ridge several hundred meters further on and exploded.
27:39The wreckage and passengers then tumbled down the steep side of the mountain.
27:46It's now 14 hours after the crash, and the Japanese Self-Defense Force Rescue Team arrives at the scene.
27:58They are confronted with the worst single aircraft accident in history.
28:15They're shocked to find a survivor.
28:22It's the off-duty flight attendant, Yumi Ochiai, still hanging on to life.
28:39And she is not the only one.
28:41Rescuers find a 12-year-old girl wedged in the branches of a tree and airlift her to safety.
28:57Incredibly, two more passengers are alive, a young mother and her 8-year-old daughter.
29:03It's nothing short of a miracle.
29:09But how have these four survived?
29:12The human body is believed to be able to stand a forward deceleration of up to 25 times the force
29:18of gravity.
29:21But investigators report that from the speed at which the aircraft hit the ground,
29:25those at the front of the plane experienced a sudden stop of over 100 g's.
29:40The four survivors are hurried to a hospital in Fujioka City.
29:49Investigators will soon discover that all four of the surviving passengers were seated in the last seven rows.
29:55This is how they survived.
29:57In the back of the 747, the impact forces were much less.
30:02Sheer luck had protected them from the flying debris.
30:08Yumi Ochiai has a broken pelvis and a fractured arm.
30:12She tells a disturbing story of what happened as she lay on the mountain,
30:15awaiting rescue, and that many more passengers survived the crash.
30:20After the crash, I heard harsh, panting, and gasping noises from many people.
30:26I heard it coming from everywhere, all around me.
30:30There was a boy crying,
30:32Mother, I clearly heard a young woman saying,
30:35Come quickly.
30:36Suddenly, I heard a boy's voice.
30:39Okay, I'll hang on, he said.
30:41It sounded like the voice of a boy of about school age.
30:45In the darkness, I could hear the sound of a helicopter.
30:49I couldn't see any light, but I could hear the sound, and it was quite near too.
30:55We'll be saved, I thought, and waved flantically.
30:59But the helicopter went further away.
31:02Don't go!
31:02I waved dispolately.
31:05Help!
31:06But it faded.
31:07I could no longer hear the voices of the boy or the young woman.
31:14It's clear now that many died in the cold night air, waiting for rescue.
31:23The crash of this jumbo jet would normally be a strictly Japanese affair.
31:28But it sets aviation alarm bells ringing around the world.
31:31Only weeks earlier, an Air India 747 had gone down in the Atlantic, killing 329 people.
31:39Now another 520 dead.
31:42Was there something wrong with the 747, the world's biggest jet?
31:47Could there be some unknown design fault?
31:50There were some 600 747s flying worldwide.
31:54A problem with the plane would have grave consequences for aviation.
32:01Ron Schleid, a top investigator with America's National Transportation Safety Board, the NTSB, was assigned the case.
32:10So it was a very big concern on our part about whether there was a problem with the 747, an
32:16airworthiness problem.
32:17And so we had to jump on this very quickly to learn what happened.
32:22During the late 70s and 80s, Ron Schleid was involved with many of the major foreign investigations for the NTSB.
32:30He's familiar with the sensitivities of working with foreign governments, and heads to Tokyo, where he'll meet the rest of
32:37his team.
32:38Representatives from Boeing, the plane's manufacturer, and an engineer from America's Federal Aviation Administration.
32:44When I arrived in Tokyo, the atmosphere in Japan was extremely stressful.
32:51The news media were everywhere. There was a tremendous amount of anger.
32:58Once in Japan, Schleid found that the local Japanese police had taken over the investigation,
33:03and were treating it like a crime scene, diligently observing his team's every move.
33:12Everyone was considered suspicious.
33:15Japanese airline personnel, Boeing personnel, were considered suspicious.
33:20They weren't even allowed to go to the accident site.
33:26Schleid had to wait for two days before the Japanese authorities would allow him to visit the site.
33:33I was able to convince the Japanese to allow us to take Boeing people to the site,
33:38with the stipulation that the Boeing people stuck very close to us,
33:43and we supervised them while they were on scene.
33:46They could not operate on their own.
33:50Schleid found that to gain access to the site,
33:52the Japanese had quickly constructed helicopter landing pads.
34:01It was an amazing sight to look up at this mountain
34:05and see what looked like wreckage from an airplane at a distance,
34:08but you could not recognize any part of an airplane.
34:12There were scores of helicopters in the air,
34:15landing and taking off, every couple minutes.
34:27Amidst the wreckage of JAL-123,
34:31Schleid found that some families of the victims
34:33had managed to scramble to the remote mountain site on foot
34:37and build shrines to their loved ones.
34:41From above, flowers rained down on the investigators.
34:46I recall these big white, I believe they were Chinook helicopters,
34:50flying over, and there were families aboard the helicopters
34:54looking at the accident site.
34:56They were quite high, and they were dropping flower petals
34:59down onto the accident site.
35:04The one thing that we found when we got to the accident site
35:08was that many of the passengers had a lot of time to think about the end,
35:13and they found many, many notes written on pieces of paper,
35:18anything they could get their hands on.
35:22My darling wife, life with you has been wonderful.
35:26Our children have grown up to be people I am proud of.
35:30I never dreamed that the dinner we had last night
35:33would be our last together.
35:38Passengers were able to think and realize that they were out of control
35:41and maybe going to crash,
35:43so they wrote notes to their loved ones
35:46and left them in the back of the seats or in their pockets.
36:00But what could have caused this disaster?
36:04Neither the heart-rending letters nor the tangled wreckage
36:07yet yield any answer to what happened to Flight 123.
36:12Still, the main thing the investigators have to go on
36:15are the words on the plane's cockpit voice recorder,
36:17those of the plane's flight engineer
36:19who had said that door R-5 was broken.
36:23They believe that the door has somehow come off in flight,
36:26crashed into the tail,
36:28and damaged the plane's flying surfaces,
36:30the horizontal stabilizer,
36:32which makes the plane go up and down,
36:34the rudder, which controls side-to-side movement.
36:39But then, a piece of news that destroys that theory totally.
36:45The door had not come off.
36:47It's found by the investigators amidst the wreckage.
36:53The flight engineer was wrong.
36:56Ah, right now, the R-5 door has broken.
36:59The warning light on his panel led him to believe
37:02that the door had failed in flight.
37:05But the alarm may well have been set off
37:07by a short circuit in the electrical system,
37:09caused by the ceiling collapsing in the explosion.
37:15It was not a broken door that caused Flight 123 to crash.
37:19The investigators would have to look elsewhere.
37:25A photograph taken by an amateur photographer
37:28provides the first clue to the mystery
37:30of why the plane became unflyable.
37:33There's something odd about the image.
37:36Photographic technicians put it on a computer
37:38and work hard to enhance the photograph
37:41to sharpen up its blurred lines.
37:44Finally, they get a clear enough picture.
37:46The whole huge tail fin of the airplane is missing.
37:51It's what keeps the plane steady.
37:53Since most of the plane's hydraulic fluid lines
37:56pass through the fin,
37:57it starts to make sense
37:59why they lost hydraulic pressure
38:00and control of the plane.
38:07Then, a Japanese Navy ship
38:09steaming across the bay south of Tokyo
38:11came upon the plane's tail fin floating on the sea.
38:15It's at the very spot
38:16where the plane had first reported an emergency.
38:22investigators are now certain
38:23that the starting point of the accident
38:25must have something to do
38:26with the tail of the aircraft.
38:34They review the known facts.
38:39Something had caused the ceiling
38:40at the back of the plane to collapse.
38:42There had been an explosive decompression
38:44of the aircraft.
38:49Whatever it was also ripped off the tail fin
38:52and the main hydraulic lines with it,
38:54making the plane uncontrollable.
38:56This may be hopeless.
38:57The hydraulic fluid is all gone.
39:00We're lost.
39:02Explosion, decompression,
39:03loss of the tail fin
39:04and hydraulic failure.
39:06The investigators need to find out
39:08of what links these four elements together.
39:19Fire!
39:20Fire!
39:27I would explain that with them.
39:30Routinely, the investigators begin
39:32by looking back into the plane's history.
39:34And they make an intriguing discovery.
39:37The plane had been in another accident
39:39seven years earlier.
39:40The pilot landed the plane
39:42with its nose too high.
39:44The tail struck the ground
39:46and scraped along the runway.
39:49There'd been a repair
39:50to the rear part of the airplane,
39:52including the rear-pressure bulkhead.
39:55All modern jets, aircraft,
39:57when they climb,
39:57they have to be pressurized
39:58to keep the cabin
39:59to a reasonable level
40:00for the passengers.
40:02The rear-pressure bulkhead
40:04is like a huge metal umbrella
40:05lying on its side
40:06at the very back of the plane.
40:08Its purpose is to stop pressurized air
40:11escaping from the cabin
40:12out through the tail of the aircraft.
40:17Seven years earlier,
40:19Japan Airlines called in Boeing
40:21to repair the cracked bulkhead.
40:23Boeing engineers spliced a new panel
40:25into the damaged bulkhead.
40:28But at the accident site
40:29of Flight 123 in 1985,
40:32Ron Schleid stumbled across
40:33a piece of wreckage
40:35that unraveled the whole mystery.
40:37It was a piece of this new panel
40:39that had been spliced into the bulkhead.
40:41The repair had in fact
40:43not been done correctly.
40:44There was only one row of rivets
40:46holding that joint together
40:48where there should have been
40:50two rows of rivets
40:51holding the joint together.
40:54To explain to the Japanese investigators
40:56what he discovered,
40:58Ron Schleid sketched out
40:59how the repair should have been made
41:01and the mistake that had been made.
41:03It was a catastrophic error.
41:06The rivets were carrying
41:07twice the force they should have been.
41:11From the moment the repair was done,
41:14it was simply a matter of time.
41:20The investigators found
41:22that a simple human error
41:23had led to this.
41:26Freeze the north!
41:28Freeze the north!
41:36On a summer's evening in 1985,
41:39Japan Air 123 lifts off
41:41from Haneda Airport.
41:42It's the 12,319th take-off
41:46since the repair
41:47of the damaged bulkhead,
41:48a repair that the investigators calculated
41:51would only hold
41:51for 10,000 flights.
41:57As the plane climbs to 7,300 metres,
42:01the air outside gets thinner and thinner.
42:04But the air inside the cabin
42:05is pressurised
42:06for the passenger's comfort.
42:08The difference of pressure
42:09between the passenger cabin
42:11on one side of the bulkhead
42:12and the unpressurised tail
42:14on the other
42:14stretches the bulkhead
42:16and its faulty repair
42:17to the braking point.
42:20In a test
42:21which duplicated
42:22these conditions,
42:23cracks began to appear
42:24and lengthen
42:25around the rivet holes
42:26until
42:29the bulkhead snaps.
42:33In an instant,
42:34pressurised air
42:35from the cabin
42:36blows a hole in it
42:37two to three metres square,
42:41bringing down the ceiling
42:42around the rear toilets.
42:44The highly pressurised air
42:46blasts its way
42:47into the tail fin
42:48of the aircraft
42:48and simply blows it off.
42:54From that moment on,
42:55the plane is doomed.
42:57The pilots don't know
42:58and will never know
42:59that most of the tail
43:00of their aircraft
43:01is missing,
43:02blown off into the sea below
43:04along with the crucial
43:05hydraulic lines
43:06that allow them
43:06to control the plane.
43:11It all finally makes sense.
43:13Without the stabilising
43:14influence of the tail
43:15and with the loss
43:16of ability
43:17to control the rudder
43:18and flaps,
43:19the pilots cannot
43:20control the plane.
43:22The giant aircraft
43:23now oscillates
43:24in a terrifying motion
43:25called the fugoid cycle.
43:28Don't open!
43:29As the nose drops
43:30into a shallow dive,
43:31the plane gathers speed,
43:33which generates lift.
43:34The nose rises again
43:36and the plane begins
43:37to climb
43:37until it loses speed,
43:39tips over,
43:40and begins to fall again.
43:41The whole cycle repeats itself
43:44over and over again.
43:46Flight 123 is now plunging
43:48up and down
43:49in terrifying dives,
43:51sometimes several hundred metres
43:52at a time.
43:53It really could be
43:55considered a miracle
43:55that the pilots
43:56were able to keep
43:57the airplane flying
43:58for 30 minutes or more
43:59after having lost
44:01all the hydraulics
44:02in their flight controls.
44:03But it kept circling
44:04and eventually worked
44:05its way into the mountains
44:06and it became impossible
44:08for them to land.
44:10There was no real alternative
44:11for them at all
44:13except to fly
44:14as long as they could
44:15and hope for some miracle
44:16which never occurred.
44:18Lower the nose.
44:18Lower the nose.
44:19Yes.
44:20Both hands.
44:21How about gear down?
44:23Gear down!
44:24To put the gear down.
44:26To understand
44:27what the pilots
44:27were up against,
44:28four hand-picked
44:30flight crews
44:30were placed in a simulator
44:32and confronted
44:33with the same situation.
44:36Not one of them
44:37could land the plane.
44:39The pilots of Flight 123
44:40managed to keep
44:41their plane in the air
44:42for 30 minutes,
44:44much of it
44:44among high mountains.
44:46An amazing feat of flying.
44:51Back in Tokyo,
44:52as the cause of the JAL accident
44:54was identified,
44:55Ron Schleid
44:56had to break the news
44:57to his colleague from Boeing,
44:59one of the top designers
45:00of the 747.
45:02The simple truth was
45:04that a single row
45:05of rivets had been used
45:06when a double row
45:07was required.
45:09And when we described
45:11our findings to him,
45:12you can imagine
45:13this Boeing man
45:14became very, very upset.
45:17Personally,
45:19was crying
45:20because of the fact
45:21that his airplane
45:22that he designed
45:23and then the people
45:24that did the repair,
45:25because it was Boeing people
45:26that designed
45:27and did the repair,
45:28had made an improper repair
45:30that caused the airplane
45:31to crash.
45:32The Japanese police
45:34wanted to bring criminal charges
45:35against Boeing
45:36for its part in the tragedy,
45:38but the prosecutors
45:39decided not to go ahead.
45:42Boeing's reputation
45:43was damaged,
45:44but if they could derive
45:45any comfort at all
45:46from this tragedy,
45:47it was that there was
45:48no inherent fault
45:49in the 747.
45:51The plane continues on
45:52to become one of the most successful
45:54civil aircraft of all time.
46:00However, Japan Airlines,
46:02the innocent party,
46:04had no such comfort.
46:05After I left the scene
46:08and came home,
46:09it was my understanding
46:10that one of the senior
46:11Japanese Airlines
46:13maintenance managers
46:15actually committed suicide.
46:18The Japanese Airlines
46:19president resigned.
46:21The bookings slumped.
46:22Rumors abounded in Japan
46:24that the airline
46:25was indeed guilty
46:26and that Boeing was just
46:27taking the rap
46:28for a valuable customer.
46:32It's taken years
46:33for Japan Airlines
46:34to recover from this experience,
46:36the worst single plane crash
46:38in history.
47:09The Japanese Airlines