All language subtitles for Mayday.S03E03.Out.of.Control.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

This is the story
of one of the most

tragic incidents in aviation
history.

Of how a jumbo jet goes berserk,

plunging up and down
at 7,300 meters.

Of how an innocent mistake made
years earlier

puts over 500 lives at risk,

and how investigators literally
stumble on the reason

behind the biggest single
air crash in history.

Japan Airlines 123 is
uncontrollable.

Next...

3000.

We're not getting any oxygen.

We have the terrain alarm.

We are in an emergency.

This may be
the last video ever taken

of Japan Airlines Flight 123.

It's late summer, and millions
are traveling home

for a traditional Japanese
holiday.

Something exploded?

Put the oxygen masks on,
please!

Japan Air 123. Request--

The plane is only
12 minutes into its flight

when terror strikes...

It's out of control,
plunging up and down,

hundreds of meters at a time.

And it's headed straight
into the mountains

that surround Mount Fuji ,

the tallest mountain
in Japan.

On the ground, Japan Airlines
staff search frantically

for the cause of the problem.

In Tokyo, Air traffic
controllers try to guide
the plane to safety,

while the pilots resort
to desperate measures

to keep the plane aloft...

Tokyo, Japan.

August 12, 1985.

In most of Japan
it's the eve of Obon,

when people traditionally
honour their ancestors

often returning to their place
of birth for family reunions.

Tokyo's Haneda Airport
is crowded

with thousands
trying to get home.

On the tarmac, jumbo jets
are lining up.

Air travel is so popular here
that Japan Airlines

has to use 747s even
for its short internal flights.

Tokyo Area Control handles
all aircraft

over central Japan,

including those on their way
to and from

the city's two big airports,
Haneda and Narita.

It's six o'clock in
the evening,

but the rush won't be
over for hours.

Crowded passenger lists and
busy controllers

make it a typical
holiday weekend.

Roger, approved as your
request.

456, turn right on the heading
2-5-0.

Climb and maintain flight level
2-4-0.

At Haneda Airport, Japan
Airlines flight 123 is
boarding.

Among the passengers
is young Yumi Ochiai.

She's actually a flight
attendant for Japan Airlines,

but today she's off duty.

Yumi takes a seat four rows from
the back of the plane.

At 6:12 in the evening
Flight 123 takes off,

heading for the industrial city
of Osaka,

400 kilometres to the west.

It's filled almost to capacity,
509 passengers,

and a crew of 15.

Japan Air 123,
contact Tokyo Departure.

Roger. Japan Air 123.

Captain Masami Takahama
is 49 years

old and one of the airline's
senior training captains.

On this flight he'll be handling
the radio,

and keeping an eye
on the first officer,

who is sitting
in the captain's seat.

Yutaka Sasaki is flying
the plane;

he's hoping for promotion
to captain.

Hiroshi Fukuda, a veteran flight
engineer,

is the third man
on the flight deck.

Tokyo Departure,
Japan Air 123.

Passing eight... ah, 800.

JAL 123's route will take it
south over Enshu Bay,

then south-west along
the coast,

until finally taking a sharp
right turn to land in Osaka.

The flight will take
54 minutes.

Flight 123 is leaving Tokyo
behind,

climbing to 7,300 meters.

12 minutes into this short
flight,

the plane's black box shows
that all is going well.

Hello Pat, what's the problem?

Someone wants to go to
the restroom.

Shall I let him?

The plane's black box
records a routine request

from a passenger.

He wants to use the bathroom

before the seatbelt light
is turned off.

An ordinary request
on a routine day.

Something exploded!

Air is rushing out
of the cabin.

The oxygen masks drop
down automatically

when the air pressure falls.

The explosion...

the sudden loss
of pressure in the cabin.

There must be a hole in
the aircraft.

- Gear door?
- Check gear... gear.

- What?
- Check gear, gear.

The pilot's first thought
is that the landing gear doors

have blown off.

Squawk 7-7?

7-7-0-0 is the emergency code.

When the crew radios this code
to the ground,

air traffic control will know
the plane is in trouble.

Every plane on the controller's
screen carries a label,

giving the plane's identity.

Suddenly, the label beneath
Flight 123 changes.

Someone in the cockpit has
keyed in the emergency signal.

Fasten your seatbelts.

The plane's crew members
are baffled.

They know only that there's been
a loud noise,

some sort of explosion,

a subsequent drop in cabin
pressure,

and a growing loss of control.

Yet their instruments offer
no clues to the mystery.

Engines?

All engines okay.

Ominously, the pilots
can't get the plane to respond.

It's dropping!

Right turn. Right turn.

Hydraulic pressure?

It's dropping.

The plane's flight
controls are powered by
hydraulic pressure.

The elevator, which makes
the plane go up and down,

the rudder and ailerons,
which make it turn.

On a big modern jet all
these are too heavy to operate

with cables and levers.

Instead, they are controlled
by hydraulic fluid

which flows in pipes around
the aircraft.

It's the lifeblood of
the plane.

Tokyo,
Japan Air 123.

Request immediate--

Trouble.

Request return back to Haneda.
Over.

Roger approved as you request.

Turn right, heading 0-9-0.

Put the mask on securely.

Put the band around your head,
like this.

- Don't bank so much.
- Yes.

Crew members please help out
with the oxygen bottles.

Prepare the oxygen bottles.
Please!

Don't bank so much.

Turn it back.
- It won't go back.

Nothing seems to be working.

All the controls are dead.

They're 7,300 meters up
in the air,

traveling at nearly
540 kilometers an hour,

and unable to control the plane.

In the growing uncertainty
of the situation,

the pilots know they need
to get down fast.

The controller is puzzled.

Instead of making
the anticipated 180 degree
turn back to the airport,

the plane now veers off its
course but not towards Haneda.

No, no.

123. Negative, negative, negative.

Please confirm that you are
declaring emergency,

that's right?
- That's affirmative!

Request the nature of
your emergency?

Hydraulic pressure all lost.

- All lost!
- No, look

- All lost?
- Yes.

The company, please, make a
request to the company, please.

Do we want to make a fuss?

The crew seems paralyzed
and don't radio the airline,

or answer the tower.

The officials on the ground
don't know

that the plane has lost
its hydraulic power,

but their screens tell them
it's flying erratically

and is possibly out of control.

Right turn, descend.

Look at his altitude.

Up and down, up and down.

But now uncontrol...

Put your heart into it or
it'll stall.

The hydraulics failure
has caused a serious problem.

For the last few minutes,
the plane has begun flying in
an alarming pattern.

First it climbs steeply,
then tips over

and goes into a terrifying
dive of 1,200 meters

only to level off
and begin to climb again.

This repeats itself
over and over again.

The pilots cannot understand
this bizarre behaviour.

And they are powerless
to stop it.

Tokyo area control,
August 12, 1985.

The controller receives
an emergency signal

from a jumbo jet that left
Haneda airport 13 minutes ago.

Tokyo,
Japan Air 123.

Request immediate--

Trouble. Request return back
to Haneda. Over.

Put the oxygen mask!

In the cabin, confusion
and panic spread like wildfire.

There has been an explosion,

and now some passengers are
gasping for air.

Seatbelts, please!

Hydraulic pressure
has dropped!

The plane's precious
hydraulic fluid is gone.

That's why the flight controls
aren't working properly.

Don't bank so much!
Turn it back.

It won't go back!

Airline personnel are trained
to take charge in a crisis,

and passenger Yumi Ochiai
helps out even though off-duty.

At Tokyo Control,

the controller is now joined
by his supervisor.

123, he's declared
an emergency,

says it's uncontrollable.

He says he wants to go back
to Haneda,

but his heading is all wrong.
He can't seem to turn.

Get him to Nagoya.
That would be the easiest.

It's a straight line.

The best solution would be
for the plane to switch course
to Nagoya Airport,

which is 128 kilometres
straight ahead.

But they'd need to start
descending immediately

if they're going to land there.

Right.

Your position 72.
7-2 miles to Nagoya.

Can you land at Nagoya?

Negative.
Request back to Haneda.

It's a longer runway.

The Captain wants
to try to get back to Haneda.

It's a large airport and
ideally suited for a jumbo 747

in an emergency.

But it's in the opposite
direction.

If he can get it down...

123, can you descend?

Roger, now descending.

But the Black Box shows that
he doesn't descend.

Without control of the aircraft,
they can't.

In the thin atmosphere at
this altitude,

the passengers are finding it
difficult to breathe.

People without oxygen masks
may soon become unconscious.

The situation worsens as some
of the masks

at the back of the plane
run out of oxygen.

It's been five minutes
since the explosion

and a flight attendant is
finally able to call the
cockpit

with news about what's happened
to the plane.

Oh...

Yes, what is it?

Is it in the rear?

The flight attendant tells
the engineer

that the explosion has occurred
in the rear of the plane

and may have come from
the baggage compartment.

So it's the baggage
compartment.

The furthest to the rear.

Listen, the baggage compartment
right at the back has collapsed.

I think we'd better descend!

They need to get down
quickly before the passengers
become unconscious.

But the captain seems to be
struck by a strange paralysis.

All the passengers are using
their masks.

Shall we descend a little?

The captain does not reply.

It's possible that by now he and
his crew

are suffering from hypoxia,
or lack of oxygen to the brain.

The R5, Pat?

At this altitude the oxygen
in their blood starts to fall.

First their judgement may
become impaired.

Eventually they may lose
consciousness.

The R5, Pat?
Yes, I understand.

Captain, the R5 masks
have stopped.

At the R5 door, the situation
is becoming critical.

The oxygen supply has failed.

The cabin crew have to give
the passengers

whiffs of oxygen from
a gas bottle.

Still, the captain and his crew
seem to be

drowning in confusion.

I think we'd better make
an emergency descent.

Yes.

Shall we use our masks too?

We'd better.

I think it'd be better
to use oxygen masks.

Yes.

But they don't put on
their masks.

No one knows why.

It might be indecision
or hypoxia

beginning to cloud
their judgment.

At Japan Airlines
in Tokyo,

Flight Operations have been
alerted to the emergency

but are as mystified as
everyone else on the ground.

All they know is that
over 500 lives are at stake.

It's their job to try
to diagnose the problem

and come up with a solution
while the plane is in the air.

This is Japan Air Tokyo.

Tokyo Control said they received
an emergency call from you at--

Listen, right now
the R5 door has broken.

Roger. Is the captain
returning to Tokyo?

- What?
- Can you return to Haneda?

Ah, just a moment, we're
making an emergency descent.

We'll contact you again
in a little while.

Keep monitoring us, please.

Roger.

The R5 door...
Could it have come off?

If the door has come off,

that could mean an explosive
decompression of the cabin

as the air rushes out.

Passengers may have been sucked
out kilometers above the
ground.

But there's a worse
possibility.

If the door hit the tail
of the aircraft,

it could have damaged it.

The tail keeps the plane stable;

its rudder and elevators
make the plane go up and down,

or side to side.

If the tail is damaged,

Flight Operations will be
powerless to assist them.

In Tokyo, news
that a Japan Airlines jumbo jet

is in trouble has leaked
almost immediately.

Japanese television is already
breaking into

regular programming with
live interviews.

Someone saw the crippled
jet fly overhead.

I knew the plane was in
trouble,

he is saying, it was swaying
back and forth,

then it disappeared
in a cloud.

Flight 123's meandering route
has put it in range

of an American Air Force Base
at Yokota,

on the northern outskirts
of Tokyo.

An American controller there
has overheard the conversations

between the plane and
Tokyo Air Traffic Control.

He wants to help, to offer
Yokota runway for landing.

Japan Air 123, Japan Air 123,

Yokota approach,
if you hear me contact Yokota.

The pilots are preoccupied
and don't respond.

Since they've lost all normal
control of the plane,

they're now testing
the throttles to see what
happens.

They can make the plane
go faster or slower.

At least they have speed
at their command.

As they experiment,
they find that

if they push the throttles
forward when the plane is
diving

making the engines go faster,

it actually makes the plane
come out of the dive

and brings the nose up.

And if they pull back
the throttles when it's
climbing,

slowing the engines,

the nose tips and
begins to dive.

These actions are
the opposite of what a pilot
would normally do.

But it seems to work,

and they begin to flatten out
the mad, rollercoaster ride.

Then, a second experiment.

By applying more thrust to
the engines on the left side
of the aircraft,

they manage to slowly turn
the plane right,

in the general direction
of Tokyo.

But then their luck runs out.

In the frantic juggling
of throttles,

the pilots get out of step.

It drives the 747 into a frenzy.

Gear down! Gear down!
Put the gear down.

Lowering the landing gear
should slow the plane down

and make it more stable.

Doesn't work.

Shall I lower it with
the alternate?

For safety, 747s employ
an electrically run system

separate from the hydraulics,

that can lower the landing gear
in an emergency.

While the engines are turning,
they still have electric power.

Lowering the landing gear helps
stabilize the plane.

The drag of the undercarriage
has a dampening effect

on the pitching motion.

But it also destroys
the directional control
they were getting

by applying more power to one
side of the aircraft.

Close to Mount Fuji,
the tallest mountain in Japan,

the plane makes an abrupt
turn to the right

and begins a terrifying dive.

The plane is falling
at 900 meters a minute,

twice the normal rate
of descent.

We're going down.

Heavy.

Is the wheel pushed all the way?

All the way.
It's all the way.

- Ah, heavy.
- Is the gear down?

Gear's down!

There's no need for alarm!

The plane's Black Box records
the flight attendant

still trying to calm
the passengers.

Japan Air 123,
uncontrollable!

He's gonna hit the mountain.

Tokyo Control, Tokyo control,
good day to you sir, this is...

All station, all station,
except Japan Air 123:

keep silent until further
advised.

...uncontrollable!

Understood.

Do you wish to contact--
- Stay with us, please.

Stay with us.

Just as suddenly the plane
comes out of its dive.

They've dropped over
3000 meters.

They're now in amongst towering
mountains,

but at least there's more
oxygen at this altitude...

The pilots have been fighting
the plane

for an intense 22 minutes
since the explosion.

This may be hopeless!

The hydraulic fluid is
all gone!

It's uncontrollable.

Hey, mountain! Look out!
Turn right.

- Yes.
- Right.

Right! Right!

We're going to hit the mountain.
Max power.

Applying maximum power
in order to lift the nose

is their only option.

We're going to hit it.

Right! Right! Power! Power!

I'm trying!

In their efforts to control
the plane,

they've allowed the speed
to drop too much.

To escape the mountain they need
maximum power

to generate more speed
and more lift.

We're gaining speed.

Stick with it.

Stick with it!

It's pushed all the way.

We're losing altitude.

Don't lower the nose!

It's lowering.

We're going down.

The passengers grasp the
seriousness of the situation.

Many of them prepare
for the end.

But increasing power
to avoid the mountains

has caused the plane to resume
its wayward up and down
motions.

Raise the nose!

Having run out of options,
the crew is forced to repeat

the same futile procedures,
over and over.

They've been fighting the plane
for nearly 30 minutes now.

Japan Air 123.
Japan Air 123, Yokota...

The air traffic controllers,
Japanese and American,

are desperate to help to give
Flight 123 any information

or reassurance they can.

Request radar vector
to Haneda.

Roger, understood.

Keep heading 0-9-0.

But frustratingly the plane
continues heading off

to the north-west,
away from both Haneda airport

and Yokota Air Base.

Now, with every rise
and fall of the plane,

they're barely above
the mountain tops.

Can you control
the aircraft now?

An ominous silence descends
on area control.

Japan Air 123, switch radio
frequency to 119.7.

119.7, please.

They try changing radio
frequency.

If you can, change frequency
to 119.7.

There is no reply.

If you read, come up on 119.7,
we are all ready.

Japan Air 123,

yes, we've selected 119.7.

What is our position?

Your position... Uh, 45 miles
northwest of Haneda.

In the tensions of
the moment,

the controller is a bit
confused

and mistakes the plane's
distance from Haneda.

Northwest of Haneda.

How many miles?

Yes, that is correct.

On our radar, you're 55,
5-5 miles northwest.

We are ready for
your approach anytime.

Yokota is also available
for landing.

Let us know your intentions, over.

At Haneda Airport, emergency
services are being mobilized

for the plane, wherever it
can touch down.

Yes, roger.

They say we're 25 miles west
of Kumagaya.

Suddenly, the plane goes into
a steep dive, the worst yet.

Stop the flap! Power!
Flap up. Flap up!

The plane is falling
at 5,500 metres a minute.

Raise the nose!

Flap up! Flap up!

It's stuck!

Raise the nose!

Raise the nose!

Raise the nose!

Japan Air 123,
Japan Air 123, can you hear me?

Japan Air 123,
Japan Air 123, do you read?

- Japan Air 123...
- Japan Air 123...

Japan Air 123 is gone.

At Tokyo Control,

they've lost contact with
a Japan Airlines jumbo jet

full of passengers.

An American plane flying
in the area

has been listening in
to the drama of Flight 123

and reports seeing flames
in the mountains

some hundred kilometers
west of Tokyo.

One of the C130 pilots
later said

that they even guided a rescue
helicopter to the scene,

and American marines
stood by ready to rappel down

to the burning wreckage.

But before they could do so,

they were ordered to return
to base.

Rivalry between the various
Japanese emergency forces

is reported to have caused
confusion and delays

as the victims of the crash
wait for help.

During the night,
the Japanese self-defense force

arrives on the scene.

A helicopter flown
by Captain Isuzu Omori finds
the crash site.

The pilot radios in.

Mineokayama.

Victor 1-0-7.

I see something...

I see flames in about 10 spots
over an area

of about 300 meters square.

Victor 1-0-7.
Mineokayama.

Is there any sign of survivors?

Victor 1-0-7.
No sign of survivors.

Visibility poor.

Too much smoke.

Victor 1-0-7.
Can you land to investigate?

Not a chance.

It's a 45-degree slope
down there, nowhere to put
down.

And there's fire everywhere.

Seeing no sign
of survivors,

and unwilling to risk
a landing at night,

Captain Omori returns
to base.

Meanwhile, a team of rescuers
is on its way by road.

But since they don't expect
to find anyone alive,

they spend the night
in a village

68 kilometers from
the crash site.

At the crash site,
the passengers of flight 123
lie dying...

The next morning...

the last minutes of Flight 123
start to become clear.

The 747 sliced a path through
the trees

near the top of Mount Osutaka,

one of the mountains north
of Mount Fuji.

The plane finally hit a ridge

several hundred meters
further on, and exploded.

The wreckage and passengers
then tumbled down

the steep side of
the mountain.

It's now 14 hours after
the crash,

and the Japanese Self-Defense
Force rescue team arrives at
the scene.

They are confronted with
the worst single aircraft
accident in history.

They are shocked to find
a survivor.

It's the offduty flight
attendant, Yumi Ochiai,

still hanging on to life.

And she is not the only one.

Rescuers find
a 12-year-old girl

wedged in the branches of a tree
and airlift her to safety.

Incredibly, two more passengers
are alive,

a young mother and
her 8-year-old daughter.

It's nothing short
of a miracle.

But how have these four
survived?

The human body is believed
to be able to stand

a forward deceleration of
up to 25 times the force
of gravity.

But investigators report that
from the speed

at which the aircraft
hit the ground,

those at the front of the plane
experienced a sudden stop

of over 100 G's.

The four survivors are hurried
to a hospital in Fujioka City.

Investigators will soon discover
that all four

of the surviving passengers were
seated in the last seven rows.

This is how they survived.

In the back of the 747,

the impact forces were
much less.

Sheer luck had protected them
from the flying debris.

Yumi Ochiai has a broken pelvis
and a fractured arm.

She tells a disturbing story
of what happened

as she lay on the mountain,
awaiting rescue

and that many more passengers
survived the crash.

After the crash I heard
harsh panting and gasping noises

from many people.

I heard it coming
from everywhere all around me.

There was a boy crying
"mother."

I clearly heard a young woman
saying, "Come quickly."

Suddenly, I heard a boy's voice,
"Okay, I'll hang on," he said.

It sounded like the voice
of a boy of about school age.

In the darkness I could hear
the sound of a helicopter.

I couldn't see any light,

but I could hear the sound and
it was quite near too.

"We'll be saved", I thought,
and waved frantically.

But the helicopter went
further away.

"Don't go" I waved desperately.

"Help".

But it faded...

I could no longer hear
the voices of the boy or
the young woman.

It's clear now that many died
in the cold night air,

waiting for rescue.

The crash of this jumbo jet
would normally be

a strictly Japanese affair.

But it sets aviation alarm bells
ringing around the world.

Only weeks earlier
an Air India 747 had gone down

in the Atlantic,
killing 329 people.

Now, another 520 dead.

Was there something wrong
with the 747,

the world's biggest jet?

Could there be some unknown
design fault?

There were some 600
747s flying worldwide.

A problem with the plane
would have grave consequences
for aviation.

Ron Schleede,
a top investigator

with America's National
Transportation Safety Board,

the NTSB,
was assigned the case.

So, it was a very big
concern on our part,

uh, about whether there was a
problem with the 747,

an airworthiness problem.

And so we had to jump
on this very quickly to learn
what had happened.

At the Washington Headquarters
of the NTSB,

the chairman was extremely
concerned

at the potential consequences
for world aviation.

He wrote a personal note
to his opposite number in
Japan,

begging him to invite the NTSB
to join the investigation

as "guests".

During the late 70s
and 80s,

Ron Schleede was involved
with many of the major foreign
investigations

for NTSB.

He's familiar with
the sensitivities of working

with foreign governments
and heads to Tokyo

where he'll meet the rest
of his team:

representatives from Boeing,
the plane's manufacturer,

and an engineer from America's
Federal Aviation
Administration.

When I arrived in Tokyo,

the atmosphere in Japan was, uh,
extremely stressful.

The news media were everywhere.

There was a tremendous
amount of anger.

Once in Japan, Schleede found
that the local Japanese police

had taken over
the investigation

and were treating it like
a crime scene,

diligently observing
his teams' every move.

Everyone was considered
suspicious.

Japanese airline personnel,
Boeing personnel,

were considered suspicious.

They weren't even allowed to go
to the accident site.

Schleede had to wait
for two days

before the Japanese authorities
would allow him to visit
the site.

I was able to convince
the Japanese to allow us

to take Boeing people
to the site with the stipulation

that the Boeing people stick,
stuck very close to us

and, uh, we supervised
them while they were on scene.

They could not operate
on their own

Schleede found that to gain
access to the site,

the Japanese had quickly
constructed helicopter
landing pads.

It was an amazing site
to look up at this mountain

and see what looked like
wreckage from an airplane at
a distance,

but you could not recognize
any part of an airplane.

There were scores of helicopters
in the air,

landing and taking off
every couple of minutes.

Amidst the wreckage
of JAL 123,

Schleede found that
some families of the victims

had managed to scramble
to the remote mountain site
on foot,

and build shrines
to their loved ones.

From above, flowers rained down
on the investigators.

I recall these big white,
I believe they were Chinook
helicopters,

flying over and, uh,
there were families aboard
the helicopters

looking at the accident site.
They were quite high

and they were dropping flowers,
flower petals

down onto the accident site.

The one thing that we found
when we got to the accident site

was that many of the passengers
had a lot of time

to think about the end.

And they found many, many notes
written on pieces of paper,

anything they can get
their hands on.

My darling wife, life
with you has been wonderful.

Our children have grown up to be
people I'm proud of.

I never dreamed that
the dinner we had last night

would be our last together.

Passengers were able to think
and realize

that they were out of control.

And maybe gonna crash, so they
wrote notes to their loved ones

and left them in the back of
the seats or in their pockets.

But what could have caused
this disaster?

Neither the heartrending
letters,

nor the tangled wreckage,

yet yield any answer to what
happened to flight 123.

Still the main thing
the investigators have to go on

are the words on the plane's
cockpit voice recorder,

those of the plane's
Flight Engineer,

who had said that door R5
was "broken".

They believe that the door
had somehow come off in flight,

crashed into the tail,
and damaged the plane's
flying surfaces:

the horizontal stabiliser,

which makes the plane go
up and down,

the rudder, which controls
side to side movement.

But then, a piece of news that
destroys that theory, totally.

The door had not come off.

It is found by the investigators
amidst the wreckage.

The flight engineer was wrong.

Ah, right now the R5 door
is broken.

The warning light on his panel
led him to believe

that the door had failed
in flight.

But the alarm may well have been
set off by a short circuit

in the electrical system caused
by the ceiling collapsing

in the explosion.

It was not a broken door
that caused Flight 123 to
crash.

The investigators would have
to look elsewhere.

Lift the flaps! Power! Power!
Power! Flaps up...

Flap up! Flap up!

It's up!

Raise the nose!
Raise the nose!

Japan Airlines
Flight 123

has crashed into Mt Osutaka,
taking hundreds of lives.

Investigators are worried
about a hidden fault in
the Boeing 747.

They need to find the cause
of this crash quickly.

A photograph taken
by an amateur photographer

provides the first clue
to the mystery

of why the plane became
unflyable.

There's something odd
about the image.

Photographic technicians
put it on a computer

and work hard to enhance
the photograph,

to sharpen up its blurred lines.

Finally, they get a clear enough
picture.

The whole, huge tail fin
of the airplane is missing.

It's what keeps
the plane steady.

Since most of the plane's
hydraulic fluid lines pass
through the fin,

it starts to make sense
why they lost hydraulic
pressure

and control of the plane.

hen, a Japanese Navy ship,

steaming across
the bay south of Tokyo,

came upon the plane's tail fin
floating on the sea.

It's at the very spot where
the plane had first

reported an emergency.

Investigators are now certain

that the starting point
of the accident must have
something to do

with the tail of the aircraft.

They review the known facts.

Something had caused
the ceiling at the back of
the plane to collapse;

there had been an explosive
decompression of the aircraft.

Whatever it was also ripped off
the tail fin,

and the main hydraulic lines
with it,

making the plane uncontrollable.

- This may be hopeless!
- The hydraulic fluid is
all gone!

All lost!

Explosion, decompression,
loss of the tail fin

and hydraulic failure:

the investigators need to find
out what links

these four elements together.

Routinely, the investigators
begin by looking back

into the plane's history.

And they make an intriguing
discovery...

the plane had been in another
accident, seven years earlier.

The pilot landed the plane with
its nose too high.

The tail struck the ground,
and scraped along the runway.

There'd been a repair to
the rear part of the airplane,

including the rear pressure
bulkhead.

All modern jets, uh,
aircraft, when they climb

they have to be pressurized
to keep the cabin

to a reasonable level
for the passengers.

So, let's take a 747.

When a 747 is on the ground,

it's actually somewhat
oval shaped

and as it climbs and
pressurizes, it becomes
more circular.

The rear pressure bulkhead
is like a huge metal umbrella

lying on its side,
at the very back of the plane.

Its purpose is to stop
pressurized air escaping
from the cabin

out through the tail
of the aircraft.

It must to be very,
very heavy and strong

because the forces
are tremendous.

They're over eight
PSI differential.

Very-- A lot of pressure.

The design of a 747 aft pressure
bulk head

was what they call a dome.

And it was designed
to take the pressure

with a lot less heavy metal.

And it's a typical design,
it's a pressure dome.

Seven years earlier,
Japan Airlines called in Boeing

to repair the cracked bulkhead.

Boeing engineers spliced a new
panel into the damaged
bulkhead.

But at the accident site of
flight 123 in 1985,

Ron Schleede stumbled across
a piece of wreckage

that unraveled
the whole mystery...

It was a piece of this new panel
that had been spliced

into the bulkhead.

The repair had, in fact,
not been done correctly.

There was only one row of rivets
holding that joint together.

Where there should have been
two rows of rivets

holding the joint together.

To explain to
the Japanese investigators
what he discovered,

Ron Schleede sketched out
how the repair should have
been made,

and the mistake
that had been made.

It was a catastrophic error.

The rivets were carrying twice
the force they should have
been.

One of the FAA engineers there
did some calculations for us

based on the earlier repair
of the bulkhead

and his theory was that
if repair wasn't done correctly,

for example if they had not put
the rivets in properly

and they had only one row
of rivets holding the bulkhead
together versus two,

as designed, that it possibly
could--

It would fail prematurely.

The FAA engineer calculated
that the faulty repair

to the bulkhead would fail after
10,000 flights.

From the moment the repair
was done,

it was simply a matter of time.

The investigators found
that a simple human error
had led to this.

Raise the nose!

On a summer's evening
in 1985,

Japan Air 123 lifts off from
Haneda Airport.

It is its 12,319 take off
since the repair of the damaged
bulkhead,

a repair that
the investigators calculated

would only hold
for 10,000 flights.

As the plane climbs
to 7,300 meters,

the air outside
gets thinner and thinner.

But the air inside the cabin
is pressurized,

for the passengers comfort.

The difference of pressure
between the passenger cabin on
one side of the bulkhead

and the unpressurized tail
on the other

stretches the bulkhead and
its faulty repair

to the breaking point.

In a test which duplicated
these conditions,

cracks began to appear and
lengthen around the rivet
holes, until...

The bulkhead snaps;

in an instant pressurized air
from the cabin blows a hole

in it two to three meters
square...

...bringing down the ceiling
around the rear toilets.

The highly pressurized air
blasts its way into the tail
fin of the aircraft,

and simply blows it off.

From that moment on,
the plane is doomed.

The pilots don't know
and will never know

that most of the tail of their
aircraft is missing,

blown off into the sea below

along with the crucial hydraulic
lines that allow them

to control the plane.

It all finally makes sense:

without the stabilizing
influence of the tail

and with the loss of ability
to control the rudder and
flaps,

the pilots cannot control
the plane.

The giant aircraft now
oscillates

in a terrifying motion called
the 'phugoid cycle.'

As the nose drops
into a shallow dive,

the plane gathers speed,
which generates lift.

The nose rises again and
the plane begins to climb

until it loses speed,

tips over and begins
to fall again.

The whole cycle repeats itself
over and over again.

Flight 123 is now plunging up
and down in terrifying dives,

sometimes several
hundred meters at a time.

It really can be considered
a miracle that the pilots

were able to keep the airplane
flying for 30 minutes or more,

after having lost all their
hydraulics and flight controls.

But it kept circling and
eventually worked its way into
the mountains,

and it became impossible
for them to land.

There was no real alternative
for them at all

except to fly as long as they
could

and hope for some miracle
which never occurred.

Lower the nose,
lower the nose!

Yes!

Gear down! Gear down!

To understand what the pilots
were up against,

four handpicked flight crews
were placed in a simulator

and confronted
with the same situation.

Not one of them could land
the plane.

The pilots of flight 123 managed
to keep their plane in the air

for 30 minutes much of it among
high mountains,

an amazing feat of flying.

Back in Tokyo, as the cause of
the JAL accident was
identified,

Ron Schleede had to break
the news to his colleague
from Boeing,

one of the top designers
of the 747.

The simple truth was
that a single row of rivets
had been used,

when a double row
was required.

And when we, uh, described
our findings to him,

you can imagine this Boeing man
became very, very upset.

Uh, personally, uh,
was crying

because of the fact that
his airplane that he designed

and then the people that
did the repair,

it was Boeing people that
designed and did the repair

had made an improper repair that
caused the airplane to crash.

The Japanese police
wanted to bring criminal
charges against Boeing

for its part in the tragedy,

but the prosecutors decided
not to go ahead.

Boeing's reputation
was damaged.

But if they could derive
any comfort at all from this
tragedy,

it was that there was
no inherent fault in the 747.

The plane continues on to become
one of the most successful

civil aircraft of all time.

However, Japan Airlines,
the innocent party,

had no such comfort.

After I left the scene
and came home,

it was my understanding that one
of the senior Japanese Airlines

maintenance managers actually
committed suicide.

The Japanese Airlines
president resigned,

the bookings slumped.

Rumours abounded in Japan that
the airline was indeed guilty,

and that Boeing was
just taking the rap for
a valuable customer.

It has taken years
for Japan Airlines to recover

from this experience,

the worst single plane crash
in history.

difuze