AIR CRASH: Japan Airlines 123

Japan Air 123 was a Boeing 747SR that crashed 44 minutes into its flight on August 12, 1985. The aircraft crashed into Mount Takamagahara roughly 62 miles from Tokyo, it's place of origin Just 4 people survived the crash (out of 524), making it the deadliest single-aircraft accident in history, and second-deadliest accident of all time, after the Tenerife Airport Disaster which killed 583, 8 years earlier. The aircraft, JA8119 (pictured), which had been delivered to Japan Air 11 years prior, had accumulated 25,030 hours in the air, when it came down. The cause of the crash was determined to be structural-failure of the rear pressure bulkhead. This caused explosive decompression, blowing the tail off and severing all hydraulic lines. The grain black and white photo was taken by an amateur photographer whilst the plane was in distress. It clearly shows the tail to have been missing. The pilots, led by Captain Masami Takahama, lost all hydraulic pressure and so consequentially lost control of their flight control surfaces (elevators, ailerons, slats etc.). The aircraft's flight path became erratic, with the pilots forced to use their final means of controlling the aircraft - differential engine thrust, use of the landing gear, and flaps through electrical power. It was not, sadly, enough. 32 minutes following depressurisation, the aircraft impacted with a mountain peak, siphoning through trees, before heading for another ridge where it crashed. The official investigation reported that the cause of the crash, the failure of the rear pressure bulkhead, was due to improper maintanence to the bulkhead 7 years earlier after it became damaged in a tail strike. The resulting extra stress from poor repairs lowered its resistence to metal fatigue. Tiny cracks grew, undetected for years until, some 12,000 flights later, the bulkhead eventually gave way, severing the hydraulic pipes, all of which meet at the rear of the plane. In flight simulator recreations of the accident, no crew has been able to match the amount of time the pilots of Japan Airlines Flight 123 were able to keep the aircraft in the air. It is a great testament to their skill which sadly wasn't enough to overcome the problems they faced. A recording of last minutes of the ******* Voice Record is available on YouTube with English subtitles (it can be viewed here - You need to login to view this link The Captain's final words: "It's... the end" when all their hard efforts failed to pay off is particularly haunting.