On your most recent GOOD article, about airline accidents, you forgot one important passenger that died on JAL 123 in 1985, the Hanshin Tigers President, Hajimu Nakano.
One of the world's all-time most tragic accidents occurred on Aug. 12, 1985, when Japan Airlines Flight 123 crashed into a mountain in Gunma Prefecture, killing 520 of 524 passengers and crew on board. Among those who died were famed "Sukiyaki" singer Kyu Sakamoto.
The Hanshin Tigers were hit hard by that disaster as well. Team President Hajimu Nakano lost his life in the jumbo jet crash and never got to see the team clinch its first pennant in 21 years and the (so far) only Hanshin Japan Series victory.
Marty Kuehnert writes:
On your most recent GOOD article, about airline accidents, you forgot one important passenger that died on JAL 123 in 1985, the Hanshin Tigers President, Hajimu Nakano.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2003/08/06/baseball/hanshins-magical-season-brings-back-memories-of-1985/
One of the world's all-time most tragic accidents occurred on Aug. 12, 1985, when Japan Airlines Flight 123 crashed into a mountain in Gunma Prefecture, killing 520 of 524 passengers and crew on board. Among those who died were famed "Sukiyaki" singer Kyu Sakamoto.
The Hanshin Tigers were hit hard by that disaster as well. Team President Hajimu Nakano lost his life in the jumbo jet crash and never got to see the team clinch its first pennant in 21 years and the (so far) only Hanshin Japan Series victory.
Peter Daniel Miller writes: The structural failure was that the tail fell off and the airplane had no
hydraulics. The tail fell off because of a tail-scraping on a previous landing.
It was inspected and given a cosmetic repair with a metal plate riveted over a
crack in the plate attaching the tail to the fuselage. It's not clear whether
that was intended to be a temporary fix or a long-term fix. The aircraft flew on
several other flights before the fatal one, but with that flaw in it, the plane
was actually doomed as soon as it took off. I vaguely recall that Boeing issued
an airworthiness advisory after the cosmetic repair, but did not absolutely
insist that the plane be grounded.
The structural failure, caused by poor repair of prior damage and maintenance
> by Boeing technicians, had disabled all of the airplanes flight controls and
> the plane flew for more than half an hour under almost no control before it
> crashed into Mt. Takamagahara at approximately 7 p.m.
The collision of two 747s on the ground at Tenerife killed more people, probably
why you wrote 'deadliest single aircraft accident'. The pilot of the JAL plane
tried desperately to fly it with engines only and no tail, no rudder, no
hydraulics. It was impossible to maintain any semblance of a straight course,
and the passengers aboard must have known it.
> Qantas was #1, followed by Air New Zealand and Etihad Airways.
The Qantas and Air New Zealand ratings are based on fatalities per mileage
flown, and since their routes are predominantly very long-haul, that biases the
results it their favor. The safety ratings should really be based on fatalities
per takeoffs and landings. Who or what is Etihad Airlines? And where is PIA
(Please I Arrive?) Pakistan Air in all this?
> a survey in 2023 by Executive Airlines found that American Airlines and Air
> France
That would be Air Chance, as it is known.
> were the world’s most dangerous airlines, having each experienced 11
> crashes. AA leads in fatalities with 858, followed closely by China Airlines
> at 760 fatalities, and Malaysia Airlines at 537.
Malaysia Airlines would win the prize for 'unluckiest airline' if there were
such a prize. It was either in the same year or two closely space years that one
of their airplanes simply disappeared over the Indian Ocean east of Perth. No
trace of it has ever been found, except a few parts that washed ashore on Sri
Lanka. The transponder had been turned off, suggesting an intentional act by the
pilot. Perhaps a co-religionist of the EgyptAir pilot who sought martyrdom for
himself and all the passengers by intentionally crashing into the Atlantic Ocean
(after reciting Allah Alihu Akbar of course). The other bad-luck Malaysia Air
flight strayed over the Ukrainian war zone where either a Ukrainian or a Russian
ground-to-air missile dispatched it.