All Nippon Airways Flight 58

All Nippon Airways Flight 58
JASDF 92-7932
Accident
Date 30 July 1971
Summary Mid-air collision
Site near Shizukuishi, Iwate, Japan
Total fatalities 162 (all on board Flight 58)
Total injuries 1
Total survivors 1
First aircraft

An ANA Boeing 727 similar to the accident aircraft
Type Boeing 727-281
Operator All Nippon Airways
Registration JA8329
Flight origin Sapporo-Chitose Airport (CTS/RJCC)
Destination Tokyo-Haneda Airport (HND/RJTT)
Passengers 155
Crew 7
Fatalities 162 (all)
Survivors 0
Second aircraft

A preserved JASDF F-86F on display at JASDF base Nara
Type Mitsubishi F-86F Sabre
Operator JASDF
Registration 92-7932
Passengers 0
Crew 1
Fatalities 0
Injuries 1
Survivors 1 (all)

All Nippon Airways (ANA) Flight 58 was a Japanese domestic flight from Sapporo to Tokyo, operated by All Nippon Airways (ANA). On 30 July 1971, at 2:04 local time, a Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) F-86F Sabre jet fighter collided with the Boeing 727 airliner operating the flight, causing both aircraft to crash.[1][2] All 162 occupants on the airliner were killed, while the Sabre pilot, a trainee with the JASDF, ejected before the collision and survived. This incident led to the resignation of both the head of Japan's Defense Agency and the JASDF chief of staff.[3]

Aircraft

The ANA airliner was a Boeing 727-281[note 1] with registration JA8329; it was less than six months old at the time of the accident.[4] The JASDF aircraft, belonging to the 1st Air Wing at Matsushima Airbase,[3] was a Mitsubishi F-86F Sabre, a Japanese-built version of North American Aviation's famous fighter jet, with tail number 92-7932. At the time of the accident, the F-86F was one of the primary aircraft in the JASDF's inventory.

Passengers and crew

Most of the passengers came from Fuji in Shizuoka Prefecture and were returning from a trip to Hokkaido.[5] Of the passengers, 125 were in a tour group made up of members of a society for relatives of Japanese servicemen killed in World War II.[6] The pilot of Flight 58, Saburo Kawanishi, 41, had more than 8,000 hours of flying experience. He was able to transmit a brief radio message between the time of the collision and the aircraft's disintegration.[7]

Sequence of events

ANA Flight 58 departed Chitose Airport near Sapporo, with 155 passengers and a crew of 7 on board for a domestic flight to Tokyo's Haneda International Airport. After takeoff, the aircraft climbed to its cruising altitude of about 28,000 feet (8,500 m).[4] Meanwhile, a 22-year-old JASDF trainee pilot, Technical Sergeant Yoshimi Ichikawa (市川良美, Ichikawa Yoshimi), and his instructor were practicing air combat manoeuvring in their Sabres near Morioka, northern Honshū. Ichikawa, who had not been watching for air traffic, was told by his instructor to break away from Flight 58 as it approached and banked left to avoid it, but it was already too late and he ejected from his aircraft. Moments later, the leading edge of the Sabre's right wing struck the Boeing's left tailplane at an altitude of 26,000 feet (7,900 m). The damage to the Boeing's tail caused it to go out of control; it entered a steep dive and disintegrated in mid-air, with the wreckage impacting near the town of Shizukuishi in Iwate Prefecture. All 162 passengers and crew were killed. The Sabre, having lost its right wing, plunged into a nearby rice paddy.[2][5]

Aftermath

Ichikawa was later tried and acquitted on a charge of involuntary manslaughter.[8] Keikichi Masuhara, Director-General of the Defense Agency (now Ministry of Defense) and General Yasuhiro Ueda, Chief of the Air Staff, resigned afterward to take responsibility of the incident.[3]

The loss of Flight 58 was the deadliest air disaster at the time, surpassing the Kham Duc C-130 shootdown in 1968 and the crash of Viasa Flight 742 in 1969,[5] and remained so until the crash of Aeroflot Flight 217 thirteen months later. It remains the deadliest accident suffered by All Nippon Airways, the second-deadliest involving a Boeing 727 behind Mexicana Flight 940,[9] and the third-deadliest on Japanese soil behind China Airlines Flight 140 and Japan Airlines Flight 123.[10]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The aircraft was a Boeing 727-200 model; Boeing assigns a unique code for each company that buys one of its aircraft, which is applied as an infix to the model number at the time the aircraft is built; All Nippon's code is 81, hence "727-281".

References

  1. ↑ Sekigawa, Eiichiro, "Mitsubishi's Mentor... ...Supersonics from Nagoya", AIR International, April 1975, Volume 8, Number 4, page 172.
  2. 1 2 "161 Die In Worst Aviation Disaster", The Coshocton (Ohio) Tribune, July 30, 1971, page 1
  3. 1 2 3 佐道明廣 (2017). 自衛隊史：日本防衛政策七十年 (in Chinese). Translated by 趙翊達. 八旗文化、遠足文化. pp. 125–126. ISBN 978-986-93844-1-4.
  4. 1 2 "Accident description, ANA Boeing 727-281 JA8329 near Shizukuishi, Japan". aviation-safety.net. Flight Safety Foundation. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 ""Disasters: The Worst Ever". TIME. 9 August 1971. Archived from the original on 1 February 2008. Retrieved 27 November 2009.
  6. ↑ "朝日新聞1971年8月1日" (in Japanese). Asahi Shinbun. August 1, 1971.
  7. ↑ Simpson (2014), Part 1
  8. ↑ "THIS DAY IN HISTORY: JUL 30; Fighter jet collides with passenger plane, 1971". www.history.com. A&E Television Networks. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  9. ↑ Ranter, Harro. "Aviation Safety Network > ASN Aviation Safety Database > Aircraft type index > Boeing 727". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 2018-10-04.
  10. ↑ Ranter, Harro. "Aviation Safety Network > ASN Aviation Safety Database > Geographical regions > Japan air safety profile". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 2018-10-04.
  • Simpson, Paul (2014). The Mammoth Book of Air Disasters and Near Misses. London: Robinson. ISBN 978-1-78033-828-6.

Coordinates: 39°41′N 140°59′E / 39.683°N 140.983°E / 39.683; 140.983

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