Japan Air Lines Flight 472 (1972)

Coordinates: 19°05′57″N 72°50′20″E / 19.09917°N 72.83889°E / 19.09917; 72.83889
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Japan Airlines Flight 472 (1972)
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Japan Air Lines Flight 472
Santacruz Airport, Bombay
5th stopoverDon Mueang International Airport, Bangkok
Last stopoverKai Tak Airport, Hong Kong
DestinationHaneda Airport, Tokyo
Occupants122
Passengers108
Crew14
Fatalities0
Injuries11
Survivors122

Japan Air Lines Flight 472 was a flight from

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 after being damaged beyond economic repair.

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was a Douglas DC-8-53, registration JA8013. The aircraft was c/n 45681. It had first flown in 1964.[1]

Accident

The flight departed London 20 minutes late. By the time it left Tehran for Bombay, it was 80 minutes behind schedule. The crew planned to execute an

ILS approach to Santacruz Airport, Bombay. However, the air traffic controller (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 approach again from the west and land. However, when it did land at 06:50

local time (01:20 UTC), it was in fact landing on Runway 08 of Juhu Aerodrome. Juhu is 3.7 kilometres (2.3 mi; 2.0 nmi) west of Santacruz, and for use by small aircraft only.[1] Runway 08 of Juhu was only 1,143 metres (3,750 ft) long, too short for a large aircraft operating JL472.[citation needed
]

After deploying the

port wing, and damaging the front and main landing gear
, causing the nose of the aircraft to dive into the ground. The wreckage caught fire, but the fire was soon put out by fire extinguishers.

At the time of the accident, there were 14 crew and 108 passengers on board. The aircraft was damaged beyond economic repair.[1] 2 cockpit crew and 9 passengers (all non-Japanese)[clarification needed] were reported injured[citation needed]. It was the second Japan Airlines accident in India, coming just two months after the fatal crash of Japan Air Lines Flight 471 in Delhi.

Cause

The accident was attributed to pilot error. However, the Indian authorities were also blamed for operating an airport for small aircraft so close to Santacruz, causing confusion (see similar incidents below). Another factor was that during the 360-degree turn Flight 472 faced the sun and morning mist, and the cockpit crew lost sight of the runway. 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 was not damaged and returned to service.

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.[2]

In 2006 alone, there were three events of civilian airliners landing at

Poznań-Ławica Airport were cited as the reason for mistake: Ławica and Krzesiny lie 14 km apart, and both runways are placed at similar angle.[3]

The most recent accident involving an aircraft landing at the wrong airport was the 2019 Saha Airlines Boeing 707 crash when a Saha Airlines Boeing 707 crashed after accidentally landing at Fath Air Base, which had a shorter runway. This accident resulted in fatalities, with 15 of the 16 occupants onboard perishing.

References

  1. ^ a b c "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 24 December 2009.
  2. ^ "The Legacy of Douglas Corrigan: "Wrong Way" Landings By Commercial Airliners". Third Amendment. Retrieved 25 December 2009.
  3. ^ "Lotnicze pomyłki: Boeing na Krzesinach" [Aviation mistakes: Boeing at Krzesiny]. lotniczapolska.pl (in Polish). Archived from the original on 2016-08-18. Retrieved 2016-06-30.