All language subtitles for Air.Disasters.S06E03.Out.Of.Control.1080p.PMTP.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-maldini_track3_[eng]

NARRATOR: 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 24,000 feet, and 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.

FLIGHT ATTENDANT:
Ladies and gentlemen,

we are starting our approach.

We lost both engines.

PILOT: Mayday.

Mayday.

FLIGHT ATTENDANT:
Brace for impact!

I think I lost one.

MAN: Investigation started.

MAN: It's gonna crash!

NARRATOR: Tokyo,
Japan, August 12, 1985.

In Japan, it's the eve of
Obon, when people traditionally

honor their ancestors,
often returning to the 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 Air Traffic 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 6 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 you request.

Cathay 456, turn right
on heading 250 prime

and maintain flight level 240.

NARRATOR: 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.

You mean 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,

250 miles to the west.

It filled almost a capacity--

509 passengers
and a crew of 15.

Japan 123, contact
Tokyo departure.

Roger, Japan Air 123.

Air 123--

NARRATOR: 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's

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.

MASAMI TAKAHAMA:
Tokyo departure,

Japan Air 123 passing 800.

NARRATOR: JAL 123's route will
take it south over Honshu Bay,

then southwest 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 24,000 feet.

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?

NARRATOR: The plane's black
box records a routine request

from a passenger.

He wants to use the
bathroom before the seat

belt light is turned off--
- Be careful, please.

NARRATOR: --an ordinary--
- Yes.

NARRATOR: --request
on a routine day.

Something exploded.

NARRATOR: Air is rushing
out of the cabin.

The oxygen masks drop
down automatically

when the air pressure falls.

NARRATOR: 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.

YUTAKA SASAKI: Gear.

NARRATOR: The pilot's first
thought is that the landing

gear doors have blown off.

Squawk 77?

NARRATOR: 770 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 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 seat
belt. Seat belt, please.

NARRATOR: 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.

Their instruments offer
no clues to the mystery.

Engines?

All engines OK.

NARRATOR: Ominously,
the pilots can't

get the plane to respond.

It's dropping!

Right turn.

Right turn!

Hydraulic pressure!

It's dropping!

NARRATOR: 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.

MASAMI TAKAHAMA:
Tokyo, Japan Air 123

request immediate-- trouble.

Request return back to Haneda.

Over.

Roger, approved
as your request.

Turn right to heading 090.

Put the mask on secured.

Put the bags around
you like this.

Don't bank so much.

Turn it back.

It won't go back.

NARRATOR: Nothing
seems to be working.

All the controls are dead.

They are 24,000
feet up in the air--

Descend?

NARRATOR: --traveling at
nearly 330 miles per hour

and unable to
control the plane.

Turn right, descend.

NARRATOR: 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.

You want to make a pass?

NARRATOR: The crew
seems paralyzed

and doesn'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, descent.

Look at his altitude--

up and down.

Up and down.

What now?

Our control!

Put your heart into
it or it'll stall!

NARRATOR: 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 4,000 feet only

to waddle off and
begin to climb again.

This repeats itself
over and over again.

The pilots cannot understand
this bizarre behavior.

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.

MASAMI TAKAHAMA:
Tokyo, Japan Air

123 request immediate trouble.

Request return back to Haneda.

Over.

Put the oxygen masks, please.

NARRATOR: In the cabin,
confusion and panic

spread like wildfire.

Airline personnel are trained
to take charge in a crisis.

Please--

NARRATOR: And passenger
Yumi Ochiai helps

out even though off duty.

--before the children!

NARRATOR: At Tokyo
Control, the controller is

now joined by his supervisor.

JAL 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 will be the easiest.

It's a straight line.

NARRATOR: The best solution
would be for the plane

to switch course to
Nagoya Airport, which

is 80 miles straight ahead.

But they need to
start descending

immediately if they're
going to land there.

Right, your position
72, 7-2 miles to Nagoya.

Can you run that Nagoya?

Negative.

Request back to Haneda.

It's the wrong runway.

NARRATOR: The captain wants
to try to get back to Haneda.

It's a large airport, 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.

NARRATOR: If a
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 ran out of
oxygen. It's been five

minutes since the explosion.

And a flight
attendant is finally

able to call the cockpit
with news of what's

happening in the plane.

Crew--

Phone.

Yes, what is it?

Is it in the rear?

NARRATOR: 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.

HIROSHI FUKUDA: Ah, so it's
the baggage compartment

further to the rear.

Listen, right now, the baggage
compartment right at the back

is collapsed.

I think we'd better descend.

NARRATOR: 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 defend a little?

NARRATOR: 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.

YUTAKA SASAKI: The R5, Pat?

NARRATOR: At this altitude,
the oxygen in their blood

starts to fall.

First, their judgment
may become impaired.

Eventually, they may
lose consciousness.

I think we'd better
make an emergency descent.

Yes.

Shall we use our masks too?

YUTAKA SASAKI: We better.

HIROSHI FUKUDA: I think we
better use the oxygen mask.

Yes.

NARRATOR: But they don't
put on their masks.

No one knows why.

It might be indecision
or hypoxia beginning

to cloud their judgment.

Japan Airlines and
Tokyo Flight Operations

have been alerted
to the emergency

but are as mystified as
everyone else in 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?

Listen, right now,
the R5 door has broken.

Roger, is the captain
returning to Tokyo?

What?

Can you return to Haneda?

Just a moment.

We are making an
emergency descent.

We'll contact you again
in a little while.

Keep monitoring us, please.

Roger.

R5 door.

Could it have come off?

NARRATOR: 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 of the aircraft

thousands of feet in the air.

And if the door hit the
tail of the aircraft,

it could have damaged it.

The tail keeps
the planes 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.

INTERPRETER (ON TV): I knew
the plane was in trouble,

he is saying.

It was swaying back and forth.

Then it disappeared in a cloud.

NARRATOR: 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.

NARRATOR: 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 a 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 roller coaster motion.

Then by applying more thrust
to the engines on the left side

of the aircraft, they
managed to slowly

turn the plane right in the
general direction of Tokyo.

But their luck runs out.

In the frantic
juggling of throttles,

the pilots get out of step.

It drives the 747
into a frenzy.

Hold that.

HIROSHI FUKUDA: How
about gear down?

Gear down!

YUTAKA SASAKI: Start
with the gear down.

NARRATOR: Lowering the landing
gear should slow the plane

down and make it more stable.

It doesn't work.

YUTAKA SASAKI: Should I
go with the alternate?

NARRATOR: 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
help stabilize the plane.

The drag of the
undercarriage has a dampening

effect on the pitching motion.

Right.

NARRATOR: But it also destroys
the directional control

they were getting by
applying more power

to one side of the aircraft.

Max power.

NARRATOR: 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 3,000 feet a minute,

twice the normal
rate of descent.

We're going down.

It's heavy.

Take the wheel all the way.

All the way.
It's all the way.

Heavy.

HIROSHI FUKUDA:
Hit the gear down!

YUTAKA SASAKI: Gear is down!

There is no need for alarm.

NARRATOR: The plane's
black box records

the flight attendant still
trying to calm the passengers.

Japan Air 123 uncontrollable.

And he's going to
hit the mountain.

MAN (OVER RADIO):
Tokyo Control.

Tokyo Control.

Good day to you, sir.

This is--

All station-- all station
except the Japan Air 123, keep

silent until further advised.

MASAMI TAKAHAMA:
Uncontrollable!

Understood.

Do you wish to contact--

Stay with us, please.

Stay with us!

NARRATOR: Just as suddenly, the
plane comes out of its dive.

They've dropped
over 10,000 feet.

They're now surrounded
by 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.

It's maybe hopeless.

The hydraulic
fluid is all gone!

MASAMI TAKAHAMA:
It's uncontrollable!

AUTOMATED VOICE: Terrain.
Terrain.

Hey, mountain!
Look out!

Don't hit the mountain!

Power!

NARRATOR: Applying maximum
power in order to lift

the nose is the only option.

We're going to hit it!

Right!

- Break!

Power!

Power!

Keep trying!

NARRATOR: 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.

Stick with it.

It's pushed all the way!

PILOT:

We're losing altitude.

Don't lower them all.

It's lowering!

We're going down.

NARRATOR: 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.

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.

It's up!

Japan Air 123, Japan Air 123.

NARRATOR: The air
traffic controllers--

Japanese and American--
are desperate to help

to give Flight 123
any information

or reassurance they can.

Request radar
back into Haneda.

Roger.

Understood.

Keep heading zero, niner, zero.

PILOT: But the plane continues
heading off to the Northwest,

away from both Haneda
Airport and Yakota Air Base.

With every rise and
fall of the plane,

they're barely above
the mountain tops.

Can you control
the aircraft now?

NARRATOR: An ominous silence
descends on area control.

Japan Air 123, switch the
radio frequency to 119.7--

119.7, please.

NARRATOR: They try
changing radio frequency.

If you can change
the frequency 119.7--

NARRATOR: There is no reply.

If you read,
come up on 119.7.

We are all ready.

PILOT: Japan Air--
one, two, three.

Yes.

PILOT: We've selected 119.7.

What is our position?

On our radar, you're 55--

505 5-5 miles Northwest.

We are ready for your
approach at any time.

Yokota is also
available for landing.

Let us know your
intentions, over.

NARRATOR: At Haneda
Airport, emergency services

are being mobilized
for the plane

wherever it can touch down.

Yes.

watch it.

They say we're 25
miles west of Kumagaya.

NARRATOR: Suddenly, the
plane goes into a steep dive,

the worst yet.

Stop the flap.

Power!
Flap up!

Flap up!
Flap up!

Power!
Power!

NARRATOR: The plane is falling
at 16,000 feet a minute.

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

NARRATOR: 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

over 100 miles West of Tokyo.

One of the C-130
pilots later said

that they even guided a rescue
helicopter to the scene.

And American Marines
stood by ready to repel

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 waited 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.

MAN (ON RADIO): ,,
Victor 107 I see something.

I see flames in about
10 spots over an area ,

of about 300 meters square.

MAN (ON RADIO):
Victor 107,

is there any sign of survivors?

MAN (ON RADIO): Victor
107, no signs of survivors.

Visibility poor.

Too much smoke.

MAN (ON RADIO): Victor 107,
can you land to investigate?

MAN (ON RADIO): Not a chance.

It's a 45-degree
slope down there.

Nowhere to put down, and
there's fire everywhere.

NARRATOR: Seeing no
sign of survivors

and being unwilling to
risk a landing at night,

Captain Omori returns to base.

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

Since they don't expect
to find anyone alive,

they spend the
night in a village

40 miles from the crash site.

NARRATOR: On the
side of the mountain,

the passengers of
Flight 123 lie dying.

NARRATOR: 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

feet 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.

The Japanese Self-Defense
Force rescue team

finally 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 off duty flight
attendant Yumi Ochiai,

still hanging onto 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 eight-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 Gs.

NARRATOR: 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.

YUMI OCHIAI (VOICEOVER):
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.

"OK, 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 will 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.

NARRATOR: 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 are 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, the
top investigator

with America's National
Transportation Safety Board,

the NTSB, was
assigned the case.

RON SCHLEEDE: So it was a very
big concern on our part 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 happened.

NARRATOR: 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
corresponding figure in Japan

asking him to invite
the NTSB to join

the investigation as guests.

During the late '70s
and '80s, Ron Schleede

was involved with many
international investigations

for the NTSB.

He's familiar with the
sensitivities of working

with foreign government
and heads to Tokyo

where he'll meet with
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 extremely stressful.

The news media were everywhere.

There was a tremendous
amount of anger.

NARRATOR: 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 team's

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.

NARRATOR: 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
stuck very close to us

and we supervised them
while they were on scene.

They could not
operate on their own.

NARRATOR: Schleede found that
to gain access to the site,

the Japanese had
quickly constructed

helicopter landing pads.

RON SCHLEEDE: It
was an amazing sight

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 minutes.

NARRATOR: Amidst the
wreckage of JAL 123,

Schleede found that some
families of the victims

had managed to scramble to the
remote mountainside on foot

and build shrines
to their loved ones.

From above, flowers rained
down on the investigators.

RON SCHLEEDE: I recall
these big, white--

I believe there were Chinook
helicopters-- flying over.

And there were families
aboard the helicopters

looking at the accident site.

They were quite high.

And they were
dropping 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 could get their hands on.

MAN (VOICEOVER): My
darling wife, life

with you has been wonderful.

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

I never dreamed that the
dinner we had last night

would be our last together.

RON SCHLEEDE: Passengers were
able to think and realize

that they were out of control
and maybe going to crash,

so they wrote notes
to their loved ones

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

NARRATOR: But what could
have caused this disaster?

The main thing the
investigators have to go on

are the words in the plane's
cockpit voice recorder.

Those are the plane's
flight engineer who

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
stabilizer which

makes the plane go up and down,
and the rudder, which controls

side to side movement.

But then investigators get
news that destroys that theory.

The door had not come off.

It is found amid the wreckage.

The flight engineer was wrong.

PILOT: Oh, right now,
the R5 door has broken.

NARRATOR: The warning
light on his panel

led him to believe that the
door had failed in flight.

But the alarm may
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.

Stop the flap!

Power!

Power!
Power!

Flap up!
Flap up!

Flap up!

Raise the nose!

Raise the nose!

NARRATOR: The 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.

Technicians enhance
the photograph

to sharpen its blurred lines.

Finally, they get a
clear enough picture.

The entire 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.

Then 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?

NARRATOR: Explosion,
decompression--

PILOT: Lower!

Lower!

NARRATOR: --loss
of the tail fin--

PILOT: Raise the nose.

NARRATOR: --and
hydraulic failure.

The investigators need
to find out what links

these four elements together.

PILOT: Power!

Power!

That would
explain everything.

NARRATOR: Crash investigators
look back into the history

of the 747 in the JAL
accident, 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.

RON SCHLEEDE: There
had been a repair

to the rear part
of the airplane,

including the rear
pressure bulkhead.

Well, all modern jets,
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 the 747 is on
the ground, it's

actually somewhat oval shaped.

And as it climbs
and pressurizes,

it becomes more circular.

NARRATOR: 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
to the tail of the aircraft.

It must be very, very heavy
and strong because the forces

are tremendous.

They're over 8 PSI
differential-- very--

a lot of pressure.

The design of the 747
aft pressure bulkhead

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.

NARRATOR: Seven years
earlier, Japan Airlines called

in Boeing to repair the crack.

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 entire mystery.

It was a piece of this
new panel that had been

spliced into the bulkhead.

RON SCHLEEDE: 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.

NARRATOR: To explain to the
Japanese investigators what he

discovered, Ron
Schleede sketched out

how the repair
should have been done

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 this earlier

repair of the bulkhead.

And his theory was, if the
repair wasn't done correctly,

for example, if they had not
put the rivets in properly

and they only had one
row of rivets holding

the bulkhead together
versus two as designed,

that it possibly could--

would fail prematurely.

NARRATOR: 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.

PILOT: Raise the nose!

Raise the nose up!

NARRATOR: On a summer's
evening in 1985,

Japan Air 123 lifts off
from Haneda Airport.

It's the 12,319th takeoff
since the repair of the damaged

bulkhead, a repair that
investigators calculated would

only hold for 10,000 flights.

As the plane climbs
to 24,000 feet,

the air outside gets
thinner and thinner.

But the air inside the
cabin is pressurized

for the passengers' comfort.

The difference in air pressure
between the 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 begin to
appear and lengthen

around the rivet holes--

--until the bulkhead snaps.

In an instant, pressurized
air from the cabin blows

a 30 square foot hole,
bringing down the ceiling

around the rear toilets.

The highly
pressurized air blasts

its way into the tail
fin of the aircraft

and simply breaks it off.

From that moment on,
the plane is doomed.

The pilots don't 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.

Don't lower!

Don't lower!

NARRATOR: 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 feet at a time.

RON SCHLEEDE: It really
could 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 their flight controls.

But it kept circling.

And eventually, it worked
its way into the mountains.

And it became impossible
for them to, uh--

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, sir.

PILOT: Both hands.

PILOT: How about gear down?

Gear down!

PILOT: We should
put the gear down.

NARRATOR: To understand what
the pilots were up against,

four hand-picked 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 for
the repair when

a double row was required.

RON SCHLEEDE: And when we, uh,
described our findings to him,

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

and personally was crying
because of the fact

that his airplane
that he designed

and then the people that did
the repair because it was

Boeing people that designed
and did the repair had made

an improper repair that
caused the airplane to crash.

NARRATOR: 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 went 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.

NARRATOR: The Japanese
Airlines President resigned.

Bookings slumped.

Rumors 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.