The cockpit voice recorder from the 1985 Japan Airlines Flight 123 disaster captured the pilot's desperate final words as he fought to save the aircraft. The crash remains the single deadliest air disaster in aviation history.
On August 12, 1985, a Boeing 747 jetliner plunged into a mountain range near Ueno, Gunma, Japan, northwest of Tokyo. The aircraft was carrying 509 passengers and a crew of 15.
Pilot's final moments
According to France 24, the cockpit voice recording left aviation journalist David Learmount, who has investigated air incidents for almost five decades, shocked. Learmount told The Mirror: "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."
He added: "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."
Learmount said: "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 Flight 123
The flight departed Tokyo's Haneda Airport at 6.12pm bound for Osaka, 400 kilometres to the west. The terminal was crowded with travellers returning home for Obon, a Japanese Buddhist tradition. The scheduled flight duration was 52 minutes.
The most experienced pilot aboard was Captain Masami Takahama, 49, one of the airline's most senior training captains. He was assisting First Officer Yutaka Saski, 39, who was commanding the flight. Flight engineer Hiroshi Fukuda was also present.
Roughly 12 minutes after departure, the aircraft suffered a deafening explosion. Oxygen masks descended as the cabin altitude warning sounded. The flight crew transmitted an emergency signal and requested a return to Haneda, now 70 miles behind them.
The bang came from a rupture at the aircraft's rear. A surge of pressure had torn away a substantial portion of the plane's tail, including the rudder, auxiliary power unit, and other vital control systems. The aircraft suffered complete hydraulics failure.
Flight 123 began swinging from side to side like a falling leaf. Passengers started writing farewell messages to loved ones, later discovered in the wreckage.
Crash and aftermath
"Raise nose, raise nose.... power" were the captain's final words as the ground proximity alarm sounded before the CVR cut out on impact. The pilots fought for almost 30 minutes before the aircraft struck the Mount Takamagahara region, near Mount Fuji.
The right wing tip and outermost engine collided with the mountain ridge. The plane flipped onto its back and hurtled into the mountainside, erupting into a massive fireball. Some survivors were found, including a 12-year-old girl whose parents and sister died in the crash.
The inquiry concluded that a botched repair seven years earlier triggered the catastrophic failure. During a landing in Osaka in 1978, the pilot had struck the tail against the runway, damaging the rear pressure bulkhead. Boeing engineers carried out a flawed repair.
Learmount 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." By August 12, 1985, the plane had completed more than 12,000 flights since the repair.
Boeing overhauled the tail design of the 747 and redesigned the hydraulic systems. Japan Airlines overhauled its maintenance protocols. The airline paid 780 million yen ($7.6 million) to bereaved families as condolence money. Japan Airlines president Yasumoto Takagi stepped down. The firm's maintenance manager, Hiroo Tominaga, and engineer Susuma Tajima both died by suicide.
