Four decades ago, one of the most tragic plane crashes in history took place in Japan. Shortly after takeoff, the plane crashed into a mountain, killing 520 passengers. , the black box revealed the final minutes during which the crew desperately tried to save those on board.
- The Boeing 747 crash in Japan in 1985 claimed 520 lives.
- All 15 crew members and 505 passengers died on board.
- The plane crashed shortly after takeoff after an explosion in the rear of the machine.
What caused the plane to crash?
On the evening of August 12, 1985, a Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet was carrying passengers on a scheduled flight from Tokyo to Osaka, Japan. During the first minutes after takeoff, everything seemed fine, but as the plane climbed, the pressure difference between the interior of the cabin and the outside atmosphere gradually increased, which began to worry the crew.
Approximately 12 minutes after takeoff, there was a deafening explosion in the cabin. The oxygen masks fell in front of the frightened passengers and the pilot in the cockpit was warned that the air in the plane was too thin to breathe. Therefore, the crew immediately sent an emergency message to air traffic control.
However, none of the passengers had any idea that the worst was yet to come. Neither Captain Masami Takahama nor the rest of the crew knew that the bang they heard in the cockpit was caused by a hole in the back of the plane. The resulting shock wave tore off a large portion of the tail, including the rudder, auxiliary engine unit, and many other important control mechanisms.
With a sudden drop in pressure, the hydraulics completely failed and the plane began to roll uncontrollably from side to side. Although the pilots tried to save the situation, the plane finally crashed into the ridge of Mount Takamagahara in Gunma Prefecture, about 100 kilometers from Tokyo. The machine flipped onto its back after the impact and ended up on a slope where it turned into a huge fireball.
Desperate last moments
Shortly before the crash, many passengers wrote farewell messages to their loved ones, which were later found among the wreckage of the plane. Investigators also managed to obtain a black box, which revealed the last chilling words of the captain just before the tragedy occurred. “Lift the nose, lift the nose. I need performance,” Takahama shouted just seconds before the machine crashed.
Aviation journalist David Learmount, who has spent almost five decades investigating the causes of disasters, said that studying the transcript of this flight was extremely overwhelming for him. He admitted that he was moved to tears several times.
On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the tragedy in 2025, the expert said sad words. “The transcript of the Japan Airlines Flight 123 crash is the only one that ever made me cry. It was so terrifying that I couldn’t listen to it all at once. The pilots were talking to each other in a state of deep anxiety because they didn’t know what was going on. It wasn’t just fear. They wanted to save the plane and the lives of everyone on board, but they didn’t know what to do. I’ve never heard this kind of despair” he stated.
All 15 crew members and 505 passengers died in the tragedy. Four passengers miraculously survived the crash, including a twelve-year-old girl whose parents and sister were killed in the crash. He was saved by sitting in the back of the plane where the impact forces were less than in the front. Between 20 and 50 passengers are believed to have survived the initial impact, but most succumbed to their injuries while waiting for help.
More than 40 years later, the horrific crash remains the worst air disaster in Japan’s history. According to Japan’s Air Accidents Investigation Commission (AAIC), which was assisted in its final assessment by the United States’ National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the cause of the tragedy was a structural failure. This should have been caused by the faulty repair of the tail, which was damaged in another crash seven years earlier.
