Japan Air Lines Flight 350

Not to be confused with Japan Air Lines Flight 351.

Japan Air Lines Flight 350 was a McDonnell Douglas DC-8-61, registered JA8061, on a domestic scheduled passenger flight from Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture, to Tokyo in Japan.^[2] The airplane crashed 9 February 1982 on approach to Haneda Airport in Tokyo Bay, resulting in 24 fatalities.^[3] Flight 350 was the first crash for Japan Air Lines in the 1980s.^[4] The investigation traced the cause of the crash to the deliberate actions of the captain.

Japan Air Lines Flight 350
日本航空350便

Wreckage of JA8061
Occurrence
Date	9 February 1982 (1982-02-09)
Summary	Deliberate crash by pilot
Site	Haneda Airport, Tokyo, Japan 35.53729°N 139.78244°E / 35.53729; 139.78244
Aircraft
JA8061, the aircraft involved in the accident, seen in November 1981
Aircraft type	McDonnell Douglas DC-8-61[1]
Operator	Japan Air Lines
IATA flight No.	JL350
ICAO flight No.	JAL350
Call sign	JAPAN AIR 350
Registration	JA8061
Flight origin	Fukuoka Airport
Destination	Haneda Airport
Occupants	174
Passengers	166
Crew	8
Fatalities	24
Injuries	7
Survivors	150

Background

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was a McDonnell Douglas DC-8-61 registered as JA8061. It was manufactured by McDonnell Douglas in 1967 and in its 15 years of service, it had logged 36955 airframe hours. It was equipped with four Pratt & Whitney JT3D-3B engines.^[5]

Crew

The crew consisted of 35-year-old Captain Seiji Katagiri (片桐 清二 Katagiri Seiji), 33-year-old First Officer Yoshifumi Ishikawa, and 48-year-old flight engineer Yoshimi Ozaki.^[2] The cause of the crash was traced to Katagiri's deliberate crashing of the plane.

Flight

Another angle of the aircraft involved

One report states that the captain engaged the inboard engines' thrust-reversers in flight.^[1][6] Another report states that, during descent, Katagiri "cancelled autopilot, pushed his controls forward and retarded the throttles to idle."^[2] Ishikawa and Ozaki worked to restrain Katagiri and regain control.^[7] Despite their efforts, the DC-8's descent could not be fully arrested and it touched down in shallow water 510 meters (1673 feet) short of the runway. During the crash, the cockpit section of the DC-8 separated from the rest of the fuselage and continued to travel for several meters before coming to a halt.^[2]

Among the 166 passengers and 8 crew, 24 died. Following the incident, Katagiri, one of the first people to take a rescue boat, told rescuers that he was an office worker to avoid being identified as the captain.^[8] Katagiri was later found to have paranoid schizophrenia^[9] prior to the incident, which resulted in his being ruled not guilty by reason of insanity.^[10] Investigators for the Japanese government attributed the incident to a lack of proper medical examinations which allowed Katagiri to fly.^[9][11]

Aftermath

Katagiri has since been released from psychiatric care.^[12]

See also

Accidents and incidents involving the Douglas DC-8 family List of declared or suspected pilot suicides Aviation safety List of accidents and incidents involving airliners by location § Japan List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft List of Japan Airlines incidents and accidents' Suicide by pilot

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