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BOAC Flight 911

Coordinates: 35°19′59″N 138°48′17″E / 35.33306°N 138.80472°E / 35.33306; 138.80472
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BOAC Flight 911
G-APFE, the aircraft involved in the accident, in 1962 with a previous livery
Accident
Date5 March 1966 (5 March 1966)
SummaryIn-flight break-up caused by severe turbulence
SiteMount Fuji, Japan
35°19′59″N 138°48′17″E / 35.33306°N 138.80472°E / 35.33306; 138.80472
Aircraft
Aircraft typeBoeing 707-436
OperatorBOAC
IATA flight No.BA911
ICAO flight No.BOA911
Call signSPEEDBIRD 911
RegistrationG-APFE
Flight originHeathrow Airport, London, UK
1st stopoverMontréal–Trudeau International Airport (at the time called, Dorval Airport), Montreal, Canada
2nd stopoverSan Francisco International Airport, San Francisco, California, US
3rd stopoverHonolulu International Airport, Honolulu, Hawaii, US
4th stopoverItazuke Air Base, Fukuoka, Japan (unscheduled)
Last stopoverHaneda Int'l Airport, Tokyo, Japan
DestinationKai Tak Int'l Airport, British Hong Kong
Passengers113[1]
Crew11[1]
Fatalities124
Survivors0

BOAC Flight 911 (call sign "Speedbird 911") was a round-the-world flight operated by the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) that crashed near Mount Fuji in Japan on 5 March 1966, with the loss of all 113 passengers and 11 crew members. The Boeing 707 flying the route disintegrated mid-air shortly after departing from Tokyo Haneda Airport as a result of severe clear-air turbulence.

The crash of Flight 911 was the third fatal passenger airline accident in Tokyo in a month, following the crash of All Nippon Airways Flight 60 on 4 February and that of Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 402 just the day before.[2]

Flight history

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The accident aircraft, a Boeing 707 (registration G-APFE)[3], arrived at Tokyo Haneda Airport at 12:40 on 5 March 1966. The plane had flown from Fukuoka Airport, where it had diverted the previous day due to weather conditions in Tokyo.[1] The weather had since improved behind a cold front with a steep pressure gradient, bringing cool dry air from the Asian mainland on a strong west-northwest flow, with crystal-clear sky conditions.

For the next leg of Flight 911, which would take the plane to Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong, the crew received a weather briefing from an airline representative, and filed an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan calling for a southbound departure from Haneda via the island of Izu Ōshima, then on airway JG6 to Hong Kong at flight level 310 (31,000 feet (9,400 m)).[1] Eighty-nine passengers were from the United States, one crew member and 12 passengers were from Japan, nine crew members were from the United Kingdom, the remaining crew member and a passenger were from China, one each came from Canada and New Zealand while the nationalities for the nine remaining passengers are not known.[4] The flight was under the command of Captain Bernard Dobson, aged 45; First Officer Edward Maloney, aged 33; Second Officer Terence Anderson, aged 33; and Flight Engineer Ian Carter, aged 31. Captain Dobson was described as a very experienced pilot who had been flying the Boeing 707 since 1960.[2]

At 13:42, Flight 911's crew contacted Tokyo air traffic control (ATC) requesting permission to start the engines and amending their clearance request to a visual meteorological conditions (VMC) climb westbound via the Fuji-Rebel-Kushimoto waypoints, which would take them nearer to Mount Fuji, possibly to give the passengers a better view of the landmark.[5] The aircraft began taxiing at 13:50 and took off into the northwest wind at 13:58. After takeoff, the aircraft made a continuous climbing right turn over Tokyo Bay and rolled out on a southwest heading, passing north of Odawara.[6] It then turned right again toward Mount Fuji, flying over Gotemba on a heading of approximately 298°, at an indicated airspeed of 320 to 370 knots (590 to 690 km/h; 370 to 430 mph) and an altitude of approximately 16,000 feet (4,900 m), well above the 12,388 ft (3,776 m) mountain peak.[1] The aircraft then encountered strong turbulence, causing it to break up in flight and crash into a forest.

Investigation

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Mount Fuji seen from the air

Flight 911 left a debris field 16 kilometres (9.9 mi; 8.6 nmi) long.[7] Analysis of the location of wreckage allowed accident investigators to determine that the vertical stabiliser attachment to the fuselage failed first. The vertical stabiliser left paint marks indicating that it broke off the port side horizontal stabiliser as it departed to the left and down. A short time later, the ventral fin and all four engine pylons failed due to a leftward over-stress, shortly followed by the remainder of the empennage.[8] The aircraft then entered a flat spin, with the forward fuselage section and the outer starboard wing breaking off shortly before impact with the ground.[7][9]

An 8 mm film exposed by one of the passengers was recovered from the wreckage. It showed pictures of the Tanzawa Mountains and Lake Yamanaka, followed by two empty frames and then apparently images of the aircraft's interior, before ending abruptly. Tests suggested that the two empty frames may have been the result of structural loads of up to 7.5 g momentarily jamming the camera's feeding mechanism.[10]

Although some stress cracking was found in the vertical stabiliser bolt holes, it was determined by subsequent testing that it did not contribute to the structural failure. Still, it was potentially a significant flight safety issue. Subsequent inspections on Boeing 707 and similar Boeing 720 aircraft as a result of this discovery did reveal this was a common problem, and corrective maintenance actions on the fleet eventually followed.[11]

One day after the crash, speculation was that fierce winds above Mount Fuji were responsible. The New York Times wrote that, despite initial reports of fire and explosion, aviation experts were of the opinion that wind conditions around the volcanic cone may have caused the crash, the vicinity of the peak being notorious for its difficult air currents. The violent forces exerted by the turbulent air could have caused the structural failure of one of the engines, leading to a subsequent fire.[12]

The investigation report concluded that the aircraft crashed as a result of its encounter with "abnormally severe turbulence over Gotemba City which imposed a gust load considerably in excess of the design limit."[1] It also stated "it is not unreasonable to assume that, on the day of the accident, powerful mountain waves existed in the lee of Mt Fuji, as in the case of mountain waves formed by extended ridges, and that the breakdown of the waves resulted in small-scale turbulence, the intensity of which might have become severe or extreme in a short period of time."[10]

Surrounding circumstances

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This accident was one of five fatal aircraft disasters—four commercial and one military—in Japan in 1966, and occurred less than 24 hours after Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 402 crashed and burned on landing at Haneda. Film footage shows Flight 911 taxiing past the still-smoldering wreckage of Flight 402 immediately before taking off for the last time.[13] The combined effect of these five accidents shook public confidence in commercial aviation in Japan, and both Japan Air Lines and All Nippon Airways were forced to cut back some domestic service due to reduced demand.[14]

The victims included a group of 75 Americans associated with the Thermo King company of Minneapolis, Minnesota, on a two-week company-sponsored tour of Japan and Southeast Asia. There were 26 couples traveling together in the group, and a total of 63 children were orphaned as a result of the accident.[15][16]

The victims also included actor and dancer Sonne Teal and four other female impersonators of Le Carrousel de Paris (reported to be named Kismie, Coco, Christine and Lady Cobra), who were performing on an international tour.[17][18] The victims even included several survivors of the Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 402 crash.[19]

Several booked passengers cancelled their tickets at the last moment to see a ninja demonstration. These passengers—Albert R. Broccoli, Harry Saltzman, Ken Adam, Lewis Gilbert and Freddie Young—were in Japan scouting locations for the fifth James Bond film, You Only Live Twice (1967).[20][21]

References

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d e f "BOAC 911 accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Flight Safety Foundation. Archived from the original on 28 October 2011. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
  2. ^ a b "On this day, 5 March 1966: Passenger jet crashes into Mount Fuji". BBC News archive. BBC. 5 March 1966. Archived from the original on 11 November 2013. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  3. ^ "G-INFO Database". Civil Aviation Authority.
  4. ^ "In Mt. Fuji Disaster — American Victins [sic] Named". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 6 March 1966. Retrieved 12 November 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ Job, Macaurthur. Air Disaster – Volume 1, p.44
  6. ^ Job, Macaurthur. Air Disaster – Volume 1, p.44–45
  7. ^ a b Job, Macaurthur. Air Disaster – Volume 1, p.45
  8. ^ Job, Macaurthur. Air Disaster – Volume 1, p.47
  9. ^ Job, Macaurthur. Air Disaster – Volume 1, p.48–49
  10. ^ a b "Mt Fuji Accident Explained" (PDF). Flight International. 29 June 1967. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 February 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  11. ^ "Middle-Age Spread". Time. 29 April 1966. Archived from the original on 12 March 2008. Examining the wreckage of the BOAC airliner that crashed near Mount Fuji in March, U.S. and Japanese experts detected hairline cracks in the Boeing 707's shorn-off tail assembly.
  12. ^ Trumbull, Robert (6 March 1966). "All on Plane Are Dead n Crash into Japan's Fuji – Jetliner Crashes on Mount Fuji After Take-Off From Tokyo Airport – All 124 on Jet Are Killed in Crash on Mount Fuji – 89 From U.S. Die; Cause Disputed– Witnesses Tell of Fire and Midair Explosion—Others Blame Wind Currents". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 29 June 2018. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  13. ^ "The Worst Single Day". Time. 11 March 1966. Archived from the original on 14 June 2008. Ironically, the doomed 707 had just taxied out for its takeoff past the wreckage of Canadian Pacific's Hong Kong-to-Tokyo flight.
  14. ^ "Japan's airlines cut Tokyo-Osaka runs". The New York Times. 19 March 1966. p. 58. ISSN 0362-4331. Japan Air Lines and All Nippon Airways announced today a reduction in their flights between Tokyo and Osaka following three air crashes in the last six weeks.
  15. ^ Stone, Richard, "124 die in 2nd Japan air disaster" quote:"A BOAC spokesman said 75 of the Americans aboard were members of a tour sponsored by Thermo King Corp. of Minneapolis, Minn."
  16. ^ "Fuji Jetliner Crash Left 63 Orphans in US". Pacific Stars And Stripes. United Press International. 8 March 1966. At least 63 American children learned Saturday, or will learn someday, that their parents died in a plane crash halfway around the world.
  17. ^ Vazquez Diaz, Ricardo (18 March 2022). Una isla sonora: auralidad, literatura y política en la obra escrita y radial de Severo Sarduy (Cuba, 1937-Francia, 1993) (PDF) (PhD) (in Spanish). University of Pittsburgh Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. pp. 114–115. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
  18. ^ "Sonne Teal Collection, Tretter-546. Jean Nickolaus Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies". University of Minnesota Archival Collections Guides. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  19. ^ Harvey, Dennis. "1966: Memories of the Mount Fuji disaster". BBC News. Archived from the original on 10 March 2016. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  20. ^ Hendrix, Grady (26 June 2007). "Slate Magazine: The State of the Ninja – By Grady Hendrix". Slate. Archived from the original on 10 May 2011. Retrieved 10 February 2008.
  21. ^ 'Inside You Only Live Twice: An Original Documentary,' 2000, MGM Home Entertainment Inc.

Bibliography

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  • Job, Macarthur (1995). "When the sky is blue, Fuji is angry". Air Disaster. Weston Creek: Aerospace Publications. pp. 44–52. ISBN 1-875671-11-0.
  • Stone, Richard I. (5 March 1968). "124 die in 2nd Japan air disaster". Long Beach, California: Press Telegram. pp. A-1, A-3. (Newspaper archive: page A-1 Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine page A-3 Archived 19 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine)
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