Air India Flight 171: Disaster in the Skies
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STV News
3 days ago
- STV News
King vows sacrifices made by VJ Day heroes 'shall never be forgotten'
The King will pledge that the service and sacrifice of those who fought and died in the Pacific and Far East 'shall never be forgotten', in a message to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. The King's audio message to the nation, realms and Commonwealth echoes a broadcast made by his grandfather, King George VI, on August 15 1945, known as VJ Day. It stands for Victory over Japan Day and marks the surrender of Japanese forces, which ended the Second World War. In the six-minute message, the King will reflect on the horrors experienced by prisoners of war and the innocent civilians of occupied lands in the region, whose suffering 'reminds us that war's true cost extends beyond battlefields, touching every aspect of life'. Charles will describe how the heroes of VJ Day 'gave us more than freedom; they left us the example of how it can and must be protected, with victory made possible by close collaboration between nations, 'across vast distances, faiths and cultural divides'. He will say this demonstrated that, 'in times of war and in times of peace, the greatest weapons of all are not the arms you bear but the arms you link'. The message was recorded earlier this month in the Morning Room at Clarence House and will be released ahead of a Service of Remembrance at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, hosted by the Royal British Legion in partnership with the government. Subscribe free to our weekly newsletter for exclusive and original coverage from ITV News. Direct to your inbox every Friday morning. The King and Queen will attend the service and then meet Second World War veterans during a reception. The Prince and Princess of Wales are not expected to attend any public events to mark the anniversary as they continue their summer break with their three children. However, other senior members of the Royal Family will participate. The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh will attend a service at the Scottish National War Memorial, Edinburgh Castle, organised by the Royal British Legion Scotland. The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester will attend the Far East Prisoners of War VJ Day 80th Anniversary Service at Norwich Cathedral, before joining a second commemorative service dedicated to the Children and Families of the Far East Prisoners of War in Suffolk. Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
Daily Record
5 days ago
- Daily Record
Japan Airlines plane crash pilot's 'harrowing' last words before 520 people died
"The pilots were talking to each other in a state of deep distress because they didn't know what was going on and what they could do." The single deadliest air crash happened 40 years ago in Japan. The most shocking of recent times is the London bound Air India plane crash shortly after take-off in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad on June 12 of this year, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and 19 others on the ground. The largest number of deaths in an aviation incident was on March 27, 1977, when two 747s collided on a foggy runway on Tenerife North, formerly Los Rodeos Airport. 583 people were killed. In Scotland, Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie, killing all 259 people on board on December 21, 1988. However, the crash in mountainous terrain north west of Tokyo - in Ueno, Gunma, Japan, exactly 40 years ago today remains the deadliest involving a single aircraft, reports the Mirror. Amid the remains of the Japan Airlines plane and the souls that perished on board, investigators recovered the black box containing the cockpit voice recording which captured the terror of the pilots. Aviation journalist David Learmount, who has investigated and reported on air incidents for almost five decades, recalls how reading the CVR transcript was so harrowing that he was reduced to tears. Speaking on the 40th anniversary of the crash, David, a consulting editor on Flightglobal magazine said: "I've lost count of the number of CVRS I've listened to and transcripts I've read from accidents - and the Japan Airlines 123 remains the only one that ever made me cry. "The transcript was so harrowing I could not listen to the CVR. "The pilots were talking to each other in a state of deep distress because they didn't know what was going on and what they could do. "It wasn't just fear. They wanted to save their airplane, to save their own lives and the lives of everybody on board, and they didn't know what to do. You've never heard that kind of distress." On the anniversary, we remember the lives lost on the doomed flight. What happened? On Monday August 12 1985 Tokyo's Haneda Airport was crowded with thousands of people trying to get home. It was the eve of Obon - a Japanese Buddhist custom when most of the country traditionally honour their ancestors, often returning to their place of birth for family reunions. At 6.12pm, Japan Airlines 123 took off heading to Osaka, 400 kilometres to the west. The flight was filled almost to capacity. 509 passengers and a crew of 15. The flight time was 52 minutes. The most senior pilot on board was Captain Masami Takahama, 49. Takahama was was one of the airlines' senior training captains, and was supporting the First Officer Yutaka Saski, 39, who was captaining the flight. Also on board was Hiroshi Fukuda, a veteran flight engineer. For the first few minutes after take off, all seemed to be fine. As the plane climbed, the air pressure difference between the air inside the cabin and the air outside the cabin grew greater and greater. Approximately 12 minutes after takeoff, the aircraft experienced a loud explosion. Oxygen masks dropped down in front of hysterical passengers. The cabin altitude alarm was blaring, alerting the pilots that the air inside the plane was now too thin to breathe. The piloting crew radioed an emergency to air traffic control. Captain Masami Takahama requested a turn back to Haneda- now 70 miles behind them. He was unaware that the bang that was heard in the cockpit was due to a hole at the rear of the plane and this wave of pressure had blasted off a huge section of the aircraft's tail, including the rudder, the auxiliary power unit, and several other critical control systems. The captain instructed his first officer to turn to the right to head back to Haneda but he started banking too steeply. But no matter what the first officer did, he couldn't turn the plane back to wings level. Horrified Hiroshi Fukuda, the flight engineer could now see that hydraulic pressure has dropped. The plane had a complete hydraulics failure and there was no checklist to deal with this nightmare scenario. Flight 123 began to swing from side to side like a falling leaf - a nauseating movement for passengers. Without hydraulic power, the pilots could no longer control the pitch of the aircraft. It began plunging up and down hundreds of metres at a time in a terrifying rollercoaster cycle. Passengers began scribbling farewell notes to loved ones, which were later found in the wreckage. Using the engine power, they were able to slow down the erratic moments and even turn the plane momentarily. "By increasing engine power on the left side, the plane would turn to the right. Increasing power on the right side, the airplane would turn to the left. So that helped. However, they still thought they could attempt to control the plane manually, which they couldn't,' said David. And their altitude pilots were now dulled by hypoxia - having been too distracted to put on their oxygen mask. In the cabin, passengers were running out of oxygen. Their best hope was a controlled crash landing at Haneda, but the plane needed to lose altitude. The flight engineer suggested they could lower the landing gear without hydraulic power. For the first time since leaving Tokyo, the plane had now dipped below 20,000 feet. A lower altitude now brought a new danger. Straight ahead of the plane loomed a towering mountain range. The aircraft began diving at more than 18,000 feet per minute, 10 times the normal rate of descent. "Raise nose, raise nose.... power' were the captain's last words as the ground proximity alarm buzzed around him before the CVR cut out on impact. The pilots fought a losing battle for almost 30 minutes before the plane hit the Mount Takamagahara area, close to Mount Fuji. The right wing tip and its outermost engine hit the mountain ridge and was ripped off. The plane spun onto its back and careened into the mountainside at hundreds of kilometres per hour, igniting into an enormous fireball. Four miracle survivors - including a 12-year-old girl whose parents and sister were killed in the crash - were all seated at the back of the plane, where impact forces were not as great as at the front, and sheer luck protected them from flying debris. The investigation into the crash concluded that a faulty repair on the aircraft seven years earlier had ultimately caused the fatal malfunction. During a landing in Osaka in 1978, the pilot had pitched the plane's nose too high and slammed the tail into the runway. The rear pressure bulkhead, a critical structural component in aircraft, specifically designed to maintain cabin pressure, was severely damaged. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Boeing engineers performed the botched repair - which led to a ever weakening structure. It wasn't a question of if it would fail, it was when. David said: "It was a patch-up job, not a repair. They took a shortcut trying to fix it and put the plane back in action.' Over time, repeated pressurisation while in the air put stress on the incorrectly repaired section. The cracks led to metal fatigue and ultimately, the separation of the aircraft's tail. By August 12, 1985, the plane had flown more than 12,000 times since the shoddy repair. But on that final fateful flight, the damaged bulkhead reached breaking point. The rapid decompression also ruptured hydraulic systems, rendering the aircraft uncontrollable, although the pilots tried desperately to prevent the inevitable. Boeing redesigned the tail of the 747, so that rapid pressure spikes in the tail plane would no longer cause the kind of structural failure which occurred on flight 123, and also redesigned the plane's hydraulic systems, so that the loss of the aircraft's tail would not result in the total depletion of all hydraulic systems. Japan Airlines also modified its maintenance procedures, putting in place stricter supervision of important repair work and making regular inspections more thorough. Although the crash was Boeing's fault, the airline bore the brunt of national fury. After the crash, Japan Airlines paid 780million yen ($7.6million) to the victims' families - not as compensation, but as 'condolence money'. The company decided against taking criminal action against Boeing. Japan Airlines president Yasumoto Takagi resigned from his post. The company's maintenance manager, Hiroo Tominaga, died by suicide. Susuma Tajima, the engineer who checked and cleared the 747SR for takeoff before its final flight, also took his own life after the crash. "Careless Boeing engineers were to blame, ' said David. 'But this was the company culture. The culture is set by the people at the top. It always does. It happens in every organisation. And they made such shortcuts and shoddiness permissible." In recent years, Boeing has been at the centre of several controversies regarding the safety of of its planes after two fatal crashes. And history appeared to eerily repeat itself after had a mid-flight blowout of a door plug, due to poor safety checks. It was a miracle no one was killed. The incident, which occurred shortly after takeoff from Portland, Oregon, resulted in a gaping hole in the fuselage. The NTSB, investigating the incident and has pointed to systemic failures within Boeing. The company said they are working on strengthening safety and quality across their operations.
Daily Mirror
6 days ago
- Daily Mirror
Japan Airlines plane crash kills 520 as pilot's 'harrowing' final words still sparks tears
The pilots had no idea their flight was doomed from the very beginning - resulting in the death of 520 people when a Boeing Jetliner slammed into a mountain near Tokyo 40 years ago today Every week it seems we hear about a new aviation accident. The most shocking of recent times is the London bound Air India plane crash shortly after take-off in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad on June 12, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and 19 others on the ground. The largest number of deaths in an aviation incident was on March 27, 1977, when two 747s collided on a foggy runway on Tenerife North, formerly Los Rodeos Airport. 583 people were killed. The single deadliest air crash in aviation history, however, took place 40 years today when a Boeing 747 jetliner slammed into a mountainous terrain north west of Tokyo - in Ueno, Gunma, Japan. The 40th anniversary of this Boeing disaster comes after a passenger was injured when door blew off mid-flight on Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft Amid the remains of the Japan Airlines plane and the souls that perished on board, investigators recovered the black box containing the cockpit voice recording. Aviation journalist David Learmount, who has investigated and reported on air incidents for almost five decades, recalls how reading the CVR transcript was so harrowing that it left him in tears. Speaking to the Mirror, on the 40th anniversary of the crash, David, a consulting editor on Flightglobal magazine said: "I've lost count of the number of CVRS I've listened to and transcripts I've read from accidents - and the Japan Airlines 123 remains the only one that ever made me cry. "The transcript was so harrowing I could not listen to the CVR. "The pilots were talking to each other in a state of deep distress because they didn't know what was going on and what they could do. "It wasn't just fear. They wanted to save their airplane, to save their own lives and the lives of everybody on board, and they didn't know what to do. You've never heard that kind of distress. " What happened? On Monday August 12 1985 Tokyo's Haneda Airport was crowded with thousands trying to get home. It was the eve of Obon - a Japanese Buddhist custom when most of the country traditionally honour their ancestors, often returning to their place of birth for family reunions. At 6.12pm, Japan Airlines 123 took off heading to Osaka, 400 kilometres to the west. It was filled almost to capacity. 509 passengers and a crew of 15. The flight time was 52 minutes. The most senior pilot on board was Captain Masami Takahama, 49. Takahama was was one of the airlines' senior training captains. He was supporting the First Officer Yutaka Saski, 39, who was captaining the flight. Also on board was Hiroshi Fukuda, a veteran flight engineer. For the first few minutes after take off, all was fine. As the plane climbed, the air pressure difference between the air inside the cabin and the air outside the cabin grew greater and greater. Approximately 12 minutes after takeoff, the aircraft experienced a loud explosion. Oxygen masks dropped down in front of hysterical passengers. The cabin altitude alarm was blaring, alerting the pilots that the air inside the plane was now too thin to breathe. The piloting crew radioed an emergency to air traffic control. Captain Masami Takahama requested a turn back to Haneda- now 70 miles behind them. He was unaware that the bang that was heard in the cockpit was due to a hole at the rear of the plane and this wave of pressure had blasted off a huge section of the aircraft's tail, including the rudder, the auxiliary power unit, and several other critical control systems. The captain instructed his first officer to turn to the right to head back to Haneda but he started banking too steeply. But no matter what the first officer did, he couldn't turn the plane back to wings level. Horrified Hiroshi Fukuda, the flight engineer could now see that hydraulic pressure has dropped. The plane had a complete hydraulics failure and there was no checklist to deal with this nightmare scenario. Flight 123 began to swing from side to side like a falling leaf - a nauseating movement for passengers. Without hydraulic power, the pilots could no longer control the pitch of the aircraft. It began plunging up and down hundreds of metres at a time in a terrifying rollercoaster cycle. Passengers began scribbling farewell notes to loved ones, which were later found in the wreckage. Using the engine power, they were able to slow down the erratic moments and even turn the plane momentarily. "By increasing engine power on the left side, the plane would turn to the right. Increasing power on the right side, the airplane would turn to the left. So that helped. However, they still thought they could attempt to control the plane manually, which they couldn't,' said David. And their altitude pilots were now dulled by hypoxia - having been too distracted to put on their oxygen mask. In the cabin, passengers were running out of oxygen. Their best hope was a controlled crash landing at Haneda, but the plane needed to lose altitude. The flight engineer suggested they could lower the landing gear without hydraulic power. For the first time since leaving Tokyo, the plane had now dipped below 20,000 feet. A lower altitude now brought a new danger. Straight ahead of the plane loomed a towering mountain range. The aircraft began diving at more than 18,000 feet per minute, 10 times the normal rate of descent. "Raise nose, raise nose.... power' were the captain's last words as the ground proximity alarm buzzed around him before the CVR cut out on impact. The pilots fought a losing battle for almost 30 minutes before the plane hit the Mount Takamagahara area, close to Mount Fuji. The right wing tip and its outermost engine hit the mountain ridge and was ripped off. The plane spun onto its back and careened into the mountainside at hundreds of kilometres per hour, igniting into an enormous fireball. Four miracle survivors - including a 12-year-old girl whose parents and sister were killed in the crash - were all seated at the back of the plane, where impact forces were not as great as at the front, and sheer luck protected them from flying debris. The investigation into the crash concluded that a faulty repair on the aircraft seven years earlier had ultimately caused the fatal malfunction. During a landing in Osaka in 1978, the pilot had pitched the plane's nose too high and slammed the tail into the runway. The rear pressure bulkhead, a critical structural component in aircraft, specifically designed to maintain cabin pressure, was severely damaged. Boeing engineers performed the botched repair - which led to a ever weakening structure. It wasn't a question of if it would fail, it was when. David said: "It was a patch-up job, not a repair. They took a shortcut trying to fix it and put the plane back in action.' Over time, repeated pressurisation while in the air put stress on the incorrectly repaired section. The cracks led to metal fatigue and ultimately, the separation of the aircraft's tail. By August 12, 1985, the plane had flown more than 12,000 times since the shoddy repair. But on that final fateful flight, the damaged bulkhead reached breaking point. The rapid decompression also ruptured hydraulic systems, rendering the aircraft uncontrollable, although the pilots tried desperately to prevent the inevitable. Boeing redesigned the tail of the 747, so that rapid pressure spikes in the tail plane would no longer cause the kind of structural failure which occurred on flight 123, and also redesigned the plane's hydraulic systems, so that the loss of the aircraft's tail would not result in the total depletion of all hydraulic systems. Japan Airlines also modified its maintenance procedures, putting in place stricter supervision of important repair work and making regular inspections more thorough. Although the crash was Boeing's fault, the airline bore the brunt of national fury. After the crash, Japan Airlines paid 780million yen ($7.6million) to the victims' families - not as compensation, but as 'condolence money'. The company decided against taking criminal action against Boeing. Japan Airlines president Yasumoto Takagi resigned from his post. The company's maintenance manager, Hiroo Tominaga, died by suicide. Susuma Tajima, the engineer who checked and cleared the 747SR for takeoff before its final flight, also took his own life after the crash. "Careless Boeing engineers were to blame, ' said David. 'But this was the company culture. The culture is set by the people at the top. It always does. It happens in every organisation. And they made such shortcuts and shoddiness permissible." In recent years, Boeing has been at the centre of several controversies regarding the safety of of its planes after two fatal crashes. And history appeared to eerily repeat itself after Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 had a mid-flight blowout of a door plug, due to poor safety checks. It was a miracle no one was killed. The incident, which occurred shortly after takeoff from Portland, Oregon, resulted in a gaping hole in the fuselage. The NTSB, investigating the incident and has pointed to systemic failures within Boeing stated they are working on strengthening safety and quality across their operations. no one For emotional support you can call the Samaritans 24-hour helpline on 116 123, email jo@ visit a Samaritans branch in person or go to the Samaritans website.
