Latest news with #flight safety
NHK
12-08-2025
- NHK
Japan Airlines chief vows to ensure safety on 40th anniversary of deadly crash
The president of Japan Airlines has expressed her resolve to ensure flight safety as the carrier marked 40 years since the world's deadliest single-plane accident. Tottori Mitsuko spoke to reporters after attending a memorial service on Tuesday at the foot of the mountain in Gunma Prefecture, north of Tokyo, where the JAL jumbo jet crashed on August 12, 1985. She said more senior citizens and children seemed to have climbed the mountain than last year, and it means that more people of all ages are sharing the sorrow. She said she deeply feels the responsibility to protect the lives of passengers, adding that Japan Airlines employees will bear in mind for decades to come that safety is their top priority. The carrier was reprimanded by the transport ministry in May last year over five incidents. In one of the episodes a passenger plane went across an adjacent runway without permission, and in another an aircraft crossed a stop line leading to a runway. The ministry issued a business improvement advisory last December after two pilots were found to have conspired to cover up their excessive pre-flight drinking. Tottori said these troubles must have caused anger and mistrust among the bereaved families. She said that preventive measures would be pointless unless they produce results and win customers' trust. She acknowledged that the company did not properly monitor how the measures were implemented, and the executives' understanding of risk management was insufficient.
Japan Times
11-08-2025
- General
- Japan Times
Woman whose husband died in 1985 plane crash advocates safety to JAL employees
Machiko Taniguchi, who lost her husband in the 1985 crash of a Japan Airlines jumbo jet, spoke in July directly to young JAL employees involved in flight safety, her first such opportunity since the tragedy. "The safety of the skies rests on your eyes and your hands," she told them. A week later, Taniguchi, 77, climbed to the crash site on Osutaka Ridge in the village of Ueno, Gunma Prefecture, and stood before the memorial marker for her husband. "I told him I had asked them to make sure the same accident never happens again," she said. On Aug. 12, 1985, her husband, Masakatsu, who was 40 at the time, boarded Japan Airlines Flight 123 bound for Osaka, heading home after attending the funeral of a superior at work in Tokyo. Shortly after takeoff, the plane lost control and crashed in the mountains north of the capital, killing 520 passengers and crew, including him. As the aircraft shuddered, he scrawled a brief note to his wife. "Machiko, please take good care of our children," reads the note, which was found in a pocket of the pants he was wearing. "Unable to believe my husband's death, I was in a daze and couldn't eat or drink," Taniguchi recalled. Several months after the crash, the persimmon tree her husband had planted in the garden of their home in Minoo, Osaka Prefecture, bore fruit for the first time. That small harvest became a turning point for Taniguchi and her two children as they began to look ahead. Years later, inspired by her granddaughter's words — "I wanted to see my papa's papa while he was alive" — she self-published a picture book in 2016, "My Papa's Persimmon Tree," capturing the family's memories. Wishing for safety in the skies, she has since given readings in many places, totaling about 40 to 50 sessions. The former transport ministry's aircraft accident investigation commission, predecessor to the Japan Transport Safety Board, concluded that the crash was caused by an improper repair of the jet's pressure bulkhead by Boeing, the aircraft's manufacturer. The inquiry also found shortcomings in JAL's inspection procedures. Taniguchi climbs to the crash site on Osutaka Ridge in the village of Ueno, Gunma Prefecture, in July. | JIJI "If it had been repaired correctly, those 520 lives would not have been lost," Taniguchi said. "Nor would the lives and destinies of their families and friends, many times that number, have been upended." She had long hoped that JAL's maintenance staff would hear her plea. That wish was fulfilled on July 9, when Taniguchi read her picture book aloud and shared her thoughts with about 150 new maintenance employees from JAL and its group companies. "A day like today will come again tomorrow and the day after. Please protect such days," she implored. Participants listened intently, many taking careful notes, according to Taniguchi. On July 16, Taniguchi climbed to the crash site on Osutaka Ridge, step by step, gasping for breath. At her husband's memorial marker, she set down a picture book she had just revised to make it easier to read, along with the beer and coffee he loved. For Taniguchi, Osutaka Ridge is "one place where I can talk with my husband." On this visit, as always, she spoke to him with a smile, "Please watch over your family." Forty years have passed since that summer. "My husband, too, lived for 40 years. Having the opportunity to give a lecture (at JAL) this milestone year, I feel it was some kind of fate," Taniguchi said. "Summer doesn't end for me unless I come here," she said of Osutaka Ridge. "I managed to come again this year."
Daily Mail
08-08-2025
- Daily Mail
Plane passengers discover 'real' reason your phone must be on airplane mode
Books, downloaded podcasts and films, or even just taking a nap; people choose a variety of things to keep themselves entertained on a plane after switching their phone to airplane mode. Many follow the rule happily, accepting it as a reasonable safety precaution for when they're thousands of feet above the ground. However one inquisitive passenger wanted to know the reasoning behind it. On Reddit, they asked: 'Why do they ask us to not use our phones during flights? 'I am just curious, what are the stakes here? Will it go boom?' Many replied offering their thoughts on why the precaution is needed. One person revealed 'there are two reasons for this' and went on to explain the possible issues phones could cause. The biggest reason, according to the Reddit user, was concerns over mobiles connecting to towers and creating problems. 'Against popular thinking, the main reason is because it was feared that as the plane is taking off and landing, the phones would be connecting / disconnecting to multiple phone towers rapidly, which would cause issues with those towers,' they penned. 'However, this isn't really a problem in this day and age especially. It was a precaution anyways.' They went on to provide further grounds for why turning mobiles off on flights is necessary. 'It could mess with flight instrumentation, especially the radio,' the Reddit user wrote. 'Ever had a speaker or radio open and when you get a call, you can hear sounds from the speaker? 'This does still happen, but is more rare nowadays as you need to receive GSM call really.' Another person shared their thoughts on the comment, revealing they felt it was so plane passengers pay attention during emergencies. 'Always good to get people to not be distracted and have their hands free during takeoff and landing in case something does go wrong,' they said. Another interjected, explaining the phone setting helped to save battery power too. They said: 'Regardless, you should still turn your phone on airplane mode. 'If you don't, it'll drain your battery really fast because your phone will continuously try to ping towers to get a signal, but there are none.'
Al Arabiya
02-08-2025
- Al Arabiya
Breaking: Temporary flight restrictions at Samara airport: Russia's aviation authority
Temporary restrictions on planes taking off and landing were introduced at Russia's Samara airport on Saturday to ensure flight safety, Artem Korenyako, a spokesperson for Russian civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia, said on Telegram. The airport is located close to the Volga River in the Samara region, southeast of Moscow. Developing
