Episode 8 – Japan Airlines JAL Flight 123 & the dangers of shoddy aeroplane maintenance

This episode features an air crash in 1985 is the deadliest single-aircraft plane crash in history where 520 of the 524 passengers and crew died. Remarkably, 4 survived - all women.

But this is also a story where the number of survivors could have been higher had the Japanese rescuers hit the ground earlier. As you’ll hear, authorities were alerted about the whereabouts of the crashed plane early by American military search and rescue, but then presumed all on board had died and delayed a rescue attempt until the next day.

Japan Airlines Flight 123 servided an unusual route, although using a Boeing 747SR – which means Short Range.

It was a domestic Japan Airlines passenger flight from Tokyo's Haneda Airport to Osaka International Airport, Japan. On August 12, 1985.

During the flight, the Boeing suffered a sudden decompression twelve minutes into the flight and then crashed later into the area near Mount Tagamagahara, around 100 kilometers from Tokyo.

A faulty repair by Being technicians was blamed and as we’ll see, a number of recommendations were made by the United States Federal Aviation Authority afterwards concerning Boeing’s maintenance and repairs.