Japan Airlines Flight 472 (1972)
Encyclopedia
Japan Airlines Flight 472 was a flight from London
to Tokyo
via Frankfurt
, Rome
, Beirut
, Tehran
, Bombay, Bangkok
and Hong Kong
. On September 24, 1972, the flight landed at Juhu Aerodrome
near Bombay, India instead of the city's much larger Santacruz Airport (now Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport) and overran the runway, resulting in the aircraft being written off.
, registration JA8013. The aircraft was c/n 45681. It had first flown in 1964.
In the morning of Sep 24, 1972, the flight planned to execute an ILS
approach to Santacruz Airport, Bombay. However, the ATC
asked the crew, "Can you see the runway?", to which they replied, "Yes, we can". Since the weather was good around the airport that day, the ATC instructed "VFR
approach please".
After this, Flight 472 flew past Runway 09 (on the west side) of Santacruz Airport while descending, and executed a 360 degree turn, in order to land from the west side, that is, the side where the Arabian sea lies. However, when it did land at 06:50 local time
(01:20 UTC
), instead of landing at Santacruz, it was in fact landing on Runway 08 of Juhu Aerodrome, which is 3.7 km west of Santacruz, and for use by small aircraft only. Runway 08 of Juhu was only 1143 metres (3,750 ft) long, making it impossible for a large aircraft like JL472 to land on.
After deploying the thrust reversers, the captain of Flight 472 realized the mistake, and immediately deployed the spoilers and applied the brakes to the maximum extent possible, but an overrun was inevitable. The DC-8 overshot the runway, breaking off both engines on the port wing, and damaging the front and main landing gear
s, resulting in the nose of the aircraft to plunge into the ground. The wreckage caught fire, but was soon put out by fire extinguishers.
At the time of the accident, there were 14 crew and 108 passengers on board. 2 cockpit crew and 9 passengers (all foreigners) were injured, and the aircraft was damaged beyond economic repair.
, mistaking the airports. However, the Indian authorities were also blamed for building an airport for small aircraft so close to Santacruz, causing confusion (see similar incidents below), even though it had been built before India's independence, in the colonial era. Another factor is during the 360-degree turn while facing the sun, the cockpit crew of Flight 472 lost sight of the runway due to the morning mist around the surface reflecting sunlight. So, when they suddenly saw the runway of Juhu Aerodrome, they mistook it for the runway of Santacruz, and landed on it.
On July 15, 1953, a BOAC
DH.106 Comet
also landed at Juhu Aerodrome instead of Santacruz Airport. The aircraft was flown out some nine days later.
On 28 May 1968, the pilot of a Garuda Indonesia
Convair 990
had also mistaken the same Juhu Aerodrome for Santacruz Airport and tried to land his aircraft. It overshot the runway falling just short of the traffic road ahead and several residential buildings when its nose wheel got stuck in a ditch at the end of the runway. All passengers survived.
Only four months after the Japan Airlines Flight 472 incident, another similar incident happened when an Ilyushin Il-18
(turboprop
airliner) of Interflug
, an airline of the German Democratic Republic
(East Germany), landed on the wrong airport and stopped in immediate front of a parked Japan Airlines aircraft, narrowly escaped a collision.
On March 29, 2006, an Airbus A320
being operated by Eirjet
on behalf of Ryanair
landed at Ballykelly Airfield
instead of its intended destination of City of Derry Airport
.
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
via Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
, Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
, Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
, Bombay, Bangkok
Bangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
and Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
. On September 24, 1972, the flight landed at Juhu Aerodrome
Juhu Aerodrome
Juhu Aerodrome an airport serving Mumbai, was India's first civil aviation airport. It is currently used by small private aircraft and as a heliport....
near Bombay, India instead of the city's much larger Santacruz Airport (now Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport) and overran the runway, resulting in the aircraft being written off.
Aircraft
The aircraft involved was a Douglas DC-8-53Douglas DC-8
The Douglas DC-8 is a four-engined narrow-body passenger commercial jet airliner, manufactured from 1958 to 1972 by the Douglas Aircraft Company...
, registration JA8013. The aircraft was c/n 45681. It had first flown in 1964.
Accident
The flight departed London 20 minutes late. By the time it left Tehran for Bombay, it is already 80 minutes (one hour and 20 minutes) behind schedule.In the morning of Sep 24, 1972, the flight planned to execute an ILS
Instrument Landing System
An instrument landing system is a ground-based instrument approach system that provides precision guidance to an aircraft approaching and landing on a runway, using a combination of radio signals and, in many cases, high-intensity lighting arrays to enable a safe landing during instrument...
approach to Santacruz Airport, Bombay. However, the ATC
Air traffic controller
Air traffic controllers are the people who expedite and maintain a safe and orderly flow of air traffic in the global air traffic control system. The position of the air traffic controller is one that requires highly specialized skills...
asked the crew, "Can you see the runway?", to which they replied, "Yes, we can". Since the weather was good around the airport that day, the ATC instructed "VFR
Visual flight rules
Visual flight rules are a set of regulations which allow a pilot to operate an aircraft in weather conditions generally clear enough to allow the pilot to see where the aircraft is going. Specifically, the weather must be better than basic VFR weather minimums, as specified in the rules of the...
approach please".
After this, Flight 472 flew past Runway 09 (on the west side) of Santacruz Airport while descending, and executed a 360 degree turn, in order to land from the west side, that is, the side where the Arabian sea lies. However, when it did land at 06:50 local time
UTC+5:30
UTC+05:30 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +05:30. This time is used in:-See also:*Indian Standard Time*Madras Time*Sri Lanka Time*Bangladesh*Nepal...
(01:20 UTC
Coordinated Universal Time
Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose...
), instead of landing at Santacruz, it was in fact landing on Runway 08 of Juhu Aerodrome, which is 3.7 km west of Santacruz, and for use by small aircraft only. Runway 08 of Juhu was only 1143 metres (3,750 ft) long, making it impossible for a large aircraft like JL472 to land on.
After deploying the thrust reversers, the captain of Flight 472 realized the mistake, and immediately deployed the spoilers and applied the brakes to the maximum extent possible, but an overrun was inevitable. The DC-8 overshot the runway, breaking off both engines on the port wing, and damaging the front and main landing gear
Landing Gear
Landing Gear is Devin the Dude's fifth studio album. It was released on October 7, 2008. It was his first studio album since signing with the label Razor & Tie. It features a high-profile guest appearance from Snoop Dogg. As of October 30, 2008, the album has sold 18,906 copies.-Track...
s, resulting in the nose of the aircraft to plunge into the ground. The wreckage caught fire, but was soon put out by fire extinguishers.
At the time of the accident, there were 14 crew and 108 passengers on board. 2 cockpit crew and 9 passengers (all foreigners) were injured, and the aircraft was damaged beyond economic repair.
Cause
The accident itself was nothing more than pilot errorPilot error
Pilot error is a term used to describe the cause of an accident involving an airworthy aircraft where the pilot is considered to be principally or partially responsible...
, mistaking the airports. However, the Indian authorities were also blamed for building an airport for small aircraft so close to Santacruz, causing confusion (see similar incidents below), even though it had been built before India's independence, in the colonial era. Another factor is during the 360-degree turn while facing the sun, the cockpit crew of Flight 472 lost sight of the runway due to the morning mist around the surface reflecting sunlight. So, when they suddenly saw the runway of Juhu Aerodrome, they mistook it for the runway of Santacruz, and landed on it.
Similar accidents and incidents
There have been many instances of aircraft being landed at airports other than the intended destination. In the majority of cases the aircraft is not damaged and was returned to service.On July 15, 1953, a BOAC
British Overseas Airways Corporation
The British Overseas Airways Corporation was the British state airline from 1939 until 1946 and the long-haul British state airline from 1946 to 1974. The company started life with a merger between Imperial Airways Ltd. and British Airways Ltd...
DH.106 Comet
De Havilland Comet
The de Havilland DH 106 Comet was the world's first commercial jet airliner to reach production. Developed and manufactured by de Havilland at the Hatfield, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom headquarters, it first flew in 1949 and was a landmark in aeronautical design...
also landed at Juhu Aerodrome instead of Santacruz Airport. The aircraft was flown out some nine days later.
On 28 May 1968, the pilot of a Garuda Indonesia
Garuda Indonesia
PT Garuda Indonesia Tbk , publicly known as Garuda Indonesia, is the flag carrier of Indonesia. It is named after the mystical giant bird Garuda of Hinduism and Buddhist mythology. It is headquartered at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, near Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia...
Convair 990
Convair 990
The Convair 990 Coronado was a narrow-body jet airliner produced by the Convair division of General Dynamics, a "stretched" version of their earlier Convair 880 produced in response to a request from American Airlines. The 990 was lengthened by 10 feet, which increased the number of passengers from...
had also mistaken the same Juhu Aerodrome for Santacruz Airport and tried to land his aircraft. It overshot the runway falling just short of the traffic road ahead and several residential buildings when its nose wheel got stuck in a ditch at the end of the runway. All passengers survived.
Only four months after the Japan Airlines Flight 472 incident, another similar incident happened when an Ilyushin Il-18
Ilyushin Il-18
The Ilyushin Il-18 is a large turboprop airliner that became one of the best known Soviet aircraft of its era as well as one of the most popular and durable, having first flown in 1957 and still in use over 50 years later. The Il-18 was one of the world's principal airliners for several decades...
(turboprop
Turboprop
A turboprop engine is a type of turbine engine which drives an aircraft propeller using a reduction gear.The gas turbine is designed specifically for this application, with almost all of its output being used to drive the propeller...
airliner) of Interflug
Interflug
Interflug was the state airline of East Germany from 1963 to 1991, when it ceased operations following German reunification...
, an airline of the German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
(East Germany), landed on the wrong airport and stopped in immediate front of a parked Japan Airlines aircraft, narrowly escaped a collision.
On March 29, 2006, an Airbus A320
Airbus A320
The Airbus A320 family is a family of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger jet airliners manufactured by Airbus Industrie.Airbus was originally a consortium of European aerospace companies, and is now fully owned by EADS. Airbus's name has been Airbus SAS since 2001...
being operated by Eirjet
Eirjet
Eirjet was a charter airline with its head office on the grounds of Shannon International Airport in Shannon, County Clare, Ireland. They operated charter services to sun and ski destinations throughout Europe...
on behalf of Ryanair
Ryanair
Ryanair is an Irish low-cost airline. Its head office is at Dublin Airport and its primary operational bases at Dublin Airport and London Stansted Airport....
landed at Ballykelly Airfield
Shackleton Barracks
Shackleton Barracks, Ballykelly, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, was a British Army base that was originally known as RAF Ballykelly, a Royal Air Force station which opened in 1941...
instead of its intended destination of City of Derry Airport
City of Derry Airport
City of Derry Airport is an airport located northeast of Derry, Northern Ireland. It is located on the south bank of Lough Foyle, a short distance from the village of Eglinton and from the city centre...
.