Japan Air Lines Flight 350

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.^[2]

Crew

In command of Flight 350 was 35-year-old Captain Seiji Katagiri (片桐 清二 Katagiri Seiji). He had joined Japan Airlines on October 1, 1969, and accumulated a total flight time of 5,698 hours at the time of the accident, of which 484 hours were flown as captain on the DC-8. He obtained his DC-8 captain's license on December 18, 1979.^{[5]: 20–23}

Katagiri's crewmates were 33-year-old First Officer Yoshifumi Ishikawa, and 48-year-old flight engineer Yoshimi Ozaki.^[2] They had flown with Katagiri in the same aircraft involved in the accident on the previous day, 8 February 1982, operating as Flight 377 from Haneda to Fukuoka.^[5]: 5

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Flight 350 took off at 07:34 from runway 16 at Fukuoka Airport. At 07:51, the flight leveled off and maintained its cruising altitude of 29,000 feet (8,800 m) until the cockpit crew began their descent on approach to Haneda Airport at 08:19. Flight 350 was cleared to enter the ILS approach to runway 33R, and the landing gear and flaps were configured for final approach by 08:41.^[5]: 5–7 As the crew began their final approach, the cockpit voice recorder captured Captain Katagiri crying out loud, indicating his abnormal mental state.^[6]

At 08:44, while Flight 350 was flying at an altitude of 164 feet (50 m) at a speed of 130 knots (240 km/h), Katagiri disengaged the autopilot. He then pushed the yoke forward and pulled the throttle back to idle^[2] before engaging the thrust-reversers on the inboard engines.^{[1][6][5]: 7–8} First Officer Ishikawa noticed Katagiri's actions and countered by pulling back the yoke on the co-pilot's side to regain control, while flight engineer Ozaki stood up from his seat and attempted to physically restrain Katagiri.^{[6][5]: 7–8 [7]} Despite their efforts, the DC-8's descent could not be fully arrested, and it crashed within seconds after the cockpit crew's struggle into shallow water 510 meters (1673 feet) short of runway 33R. 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][5]: 7–8} The other half of the fuselage trailed behind and subsequently came to rest on top of the cockpit section.^[5]: 7–8

The cockpit crew survived the crash, albeit injured and, except for Ishikawa, knocked unconscious. Katagiri was awakened immediately after the crash by two flight attendants stationed at the front of the aircraft, while Ozaki remained unconscious for the next 40 minutes until rescued by a fishing boat. Upon seeing the resulting damage from the crash, Ishikawa reportedly yelled at Katagiri, prompting the latter to burst into tears as the flight attendants tried calming him down. The flight attendants in the rear cabin attempted to contact the cockpit before initiating the evacuation procedure upon realising that the cockpit had been separated from the rest of the fuselage and hence could not be contacted.^[8]: 59

Among the 166 passengers and 8 crew, 24 died. Following the incident, Katagiri, one of the first people to take a rescue boat, took off his tie and coat, then put on a cardigan to convince rescuers that he was an office worker and avoid being identified as the captain.^[9] This led to initial police reports stating that Katagiri was among the casualties until he was located and identified in a nearby hotel, where he had his injuries treated, within hours after the crash.^[6]

Katagiri was later found to have paranoid schizophrenia^[10] prior to the incident, which resulted in his being ruled not guilty by reason of insanity.^[11] Investigators for the Japanese government attributed the incident to a lack of proper medical examinations which allowed Katagiri to fly.^[10][12] Katagiri has since been released from psychiatric care.^[13]

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