39 Years ago today: On 9 February 1982 a Japan Air Lines DC-8-61 crashed into Tokyo Bay on approach (mental abberation of the captain), killing 24 out of 174 occupants.
| Date: | Tuesday 9 February 1982 |
| Time: | 08:44 |
| Type: | McDonnell Douglas DC-8-61 |
| Operator: | Japan Air Lines – JAL |
| Registration: | JA8061 |
| C/n / msn: | 45889/291 |
| First flight: | 1967 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 36955 |
| Engines: | 4 Pratt & Whitney JT3D-3B |
| Crew: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 8 |
| Passengers: | Fatalities: 24 / Occupants: 166 |
| Total: | Fatalities: 24 / Occupants: 174 |
| Aircraft damage: | Damaged beyond repair |
| Location: | Tokyo-Haneda Airport (HND) ( |
| Phase: | Approach (APR) |
| Nature: | Domestic Scheduled Passenger |
| Departure airport: | Fukuoka Airport (FUK/RJFF), Japan |
| Destination airport: | Tokyo-Haneda Airport (HND/RJTT), Japan |
| Flightnumber: | JL350 |
Narrative:
JAL Flight 350 took off from Fukuoka (FUK) runway 16 at 07:34 for a regular flight to Tokyo-Haneda (HND). The aircraft climbed to the cruising altitude of FL290. At 08:22 the crew started their descend to FL160. After reaching that altitude, they were cleared to descend down to 3000 feet. The aircraft was cleared for a runway 33R ILS approach and 5deg of flaps were selected at 08:35, followed by 25 degrees of flaps one minute later. The landing gear was lowered at 08:39 and 50 degrees of flaps were selected two minutes after that. At 08:42 the aircraft descended through 1000 feet at an airspeed of 135 knots with wind from a direction of 360deg at 20 knots. The co-pilot called out “500 feet” at 08:43:25 but the captain did not make the “stabilized” call-out as specified by JAL operational regulations. The airspeed decreased to 133 knots as the aircraft descended through 300 feet at 08:43:50 and the co-pilot warned the captain that the aircraft was approaching the decision height. At 08:43:56 the radio altimeter warning sounded, followed by the flight engineer calling out “200 feet”, which was the decision height, three seconds later . At 08:44:01 the aircraft descended through 164 feet at 130KIAS. At that moment the captain cancelled autopilot, pushed his controls forward and retarded the throttles to idle. The co-pilot tried to regain control but the aircraft crashed into the shallow water of Tokyo Bay, 510 m short of the runway 33R threshold. The nose and the right hand wing separated from the fuselage. The captain had recently suffered a psychosomatic disorder; preliminary reports suggested that the captain experienced some form of a mental aberration. He had been off duty from November 1980 to November 1981 for these reasons.
