40th Anniversary of JAL123 Crash

Japan Air Line marked on August 12th the fortieth anniversary of a tragic accident of JAL123 crashed on a hill in Gunma prefecture in 1985, in which 520 crews and passengers died. As they have been every year, the families of victims climbed the hill of Mt. Osutaka to remember their loved ones and pray for eternal safety of aviation. However, it is a concern how to maintain memory of the incident with world’s greatest number of victims in one accident. 

After 12 minutes from taking off Haneda airport, Tokyo, on August 12th, 1985, the captain of JAL123 destined for Osaka heard a sound of explosion in rear part of the airplane. The plane lost control and disappeared from radar, leaving conversation with the ground control in Tokyo which indicated trying to get back to Tokyo. About 30 minutes later, the airplane is supposed to crash on the ridge of Mt. Osutaka, 120 kilometers away from Tokyo to the northwest. Although the smoke was found from the hill at the night, it was next morning when the police and fire department could start rescuing operation.

 

According to the report of the accident, the airplane, Boeing 747, had experienced an accident in Osaka seven years before, in which rear body hit the ground on landing. It was estimated that its pressure bulkhead then had a damage. Supposedly, caused by the damage without being well repaired, the pressure bulkhead was broken during JAL123 was flying. The plane also lost one of its two tail planes.

 

On the reason of the accident of JAL123, former cabin attendant of Japan Airlines, Toko Aoyama, disputes in her books indicating a possibility that an aircraft of Japan Air Self-defense Force had shot down JAL123 in mistake.

 

The government of Japan enhanced safety measures on aviation. It demanded airline companies to report any small incident, which would lead to an accident, as a “significant incident.” It established Japan Transport Safety Board in 2008, giving it a power to make a direct recommendation to airline company. Nevertheless, accident of airplanes has never eliminated. A landing passenger airplane and a leaving one with Japan Coast Guard collided on the runway of Haneda Airport in January 2024.

 

Major accidents of passenger airplanes keep on occurring in the world. An airplane of South Korean Jeju Air failed in landing on Muan International Airport in December 2024, causing 179 deaths. Another airplane of Air India fell just after taking off in June 2025 and 241 were dead. Safety of aviation has not fundamentally established in all of the world.

 

Families of victims in JAL123 accident climbed to the very place the aircraft crashed in Mt. Osutaka forty years ago, where a monument of memorial is standing. Some families are not able to approach the monument, because long walk of uphill road in mid-summer is too cruel for them. Children of the victims climbed Mt. Ostaka with their children to let them imagine the accident which took their grandfather or grandmother. Succeeding memories of the tragedy encourage airline companies to assure safety measures of passenger airplanes.

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