Japan Air Lines Flight 350
1982 deliberate crash in Tokyo, Japan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Japan Air Lines Flight 350 was a McDonnell Douglas DC-8-61, registered JA8061, on a domestic scheduled passenger flight from Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture, to Tokyo in Japan.[2] The airplane crashed 9 February 1982 on approach to Haneda Airport in Tokyo Bay, resulting in 24 fatalities.[3] Flight 350 was the first crash for Japan Air Lines in the 1980s.[4] The investigation traced the cause of the crash to the deliberate actions of the captain.
 Wreckage of JA8061 | |
| Occurrence | |
|---|---|
| Date | 9 February 1982 |
| Summary | Deliberate crash by pilot |
| Site | |
 | |
| Aircraft | |
 JA8061, the aircraft involved in the accident, seen in November 1981 | |
| Aircraft type | McDonnell Douglas DC-8-61[1] |
| Operator | Japan Air Lines |
| IATA flight No. | JL350 |
| ICAO flight No. | JAL350 |
| Call sign | JAPAN AIR 350 |
| Registration | JA8061 |
| Flight origin | Fukuoka Airport |
| Destination | Haneda Airport |
| Occupants | 174 |
| Passengers | 166 |
| Crew | 8 |
| Fatalities | 24 |
| Injuries | 7 |
| Survivors | 150 |
Background
Aircraft
The aircraft involved was a McDonnell Douglas DC-8-61 registered as JA8061. It was manufactured by McDonnell Douglas in 1967 and in its 15 years of service, it had logged 36,955 airframe hours. It was equipped with four Pratt & Whitney JT3D-3B engines.[5]
Crew
The crew consisted of 35-year-old Captain Seiji Katagiri (片桐 清二 Katagiri Seiji), 33-year-old First Officer Yoshifumi Ishikawa, and 48-year-old flight engineer Yoshimi Ozaki.[2] The cause of the crash was traced to Katagiri's deliberate crashing of the plane.
Flight
One report states that the captain engaged the inboard engines' thrust-reversers in flight.[1][6] Another report states that, during descent, Katagiri "cancelled autopilot, pushed his controls forward and retarded the throttles to idle."[2] Ishikawa and Ozaki worked to restrain Katagiri and regain control.[7] Despite their efforts, the DC-8's descent could not be fully arrested and it touched down in shallow water 510 meters (1673 feet) short of the runway. During the crash, the cockpit section of the DC-8 separated from the rest of the fuselage and continued to travel for several meters before coming to a halt.[2]
Among the 166 passengers and 8 crew, 24 died. Following the incident, Katagiri, one of the first people to take a rescue boat, told rescuers that he was an office worker to avoid being identified as the captain.[8] Katagiri was later found to have paranoid schizophrenia[9] prior to the incident, which resulted in his being ruled not guilty by reason of insanity.[10] Investigators for the Japanese government attributed the incident to a lack of proper medical examinations which allowed Katagiri to fly.[9][11]
Aftermath
Katagiri has since been released from psychiatric care.[12]
