The crash of the Boeing 707 in Fuji

Boeing 707-436 with serial number 17706 and serial 113 was released in 1960 and on April 1 received the tail number N5092K for the test period. 4 Rolls-Royce 508 Conway turbofan engines were installed on it. On April 29, the liner was transferred to the British airline BOAC , where it received the G-APFE tail number ^{[2] [3]} . The total operating time of the airliner was 19,523 hours of flight and 6744 cycles (takeoff - landing) ^[4] .

The crew commander was 45-year-old pilot Bernard James Dobson ( born Bernard James Dobson ), born in 1921. During the Second World War, he served in the Royal Air Force , including the famous 617th squadron (from October 1944 to March 1945), known as the “Dam Destroyers,” and also participated in the flooding operation on November 12, 1944 battleship Tirpitz ^[5] . Commander Dobson began flying on B707 aircraft from November 1960 and was considered an experienced pilot ^[1] .

The plane operated a regular passenger flight 911 (callsign Speedbird 911 ) from San Francisco ( California ) to Hong Kong (at that time belonged to the United Kingdom ) with intermediate landings in Honolulu ( Hawaii ) and Tokyo ( Japan ). The scheduled landing in Tokyo was to be at 16:45 on March 4 . However, due to adverse weather conditions and the failure of the landing radar, flight 911 was sent to the alternate airport in Fukuoka , where it landed at 18:00. Having waited there the night, the next day , March 5, at 11:25, the Boeing left Fukuoka and landed at Tokyo Airport at 12:43. Here, the aircraft was prepared for flight to the next stop - Hong Kong. In total, there were 11 crew members and 113 passengers on board ^[4] .

According to the flight plan, the Speedbird 911 was supposed to head to Izuoshima after departure and, taking flight level 310 (31 thousand feet or 9.45 km), follow the JG6 air corridor to Hong Kong. But at 13:42 Dobson contacted the dispatcher and asked for permission to change the flight from instrument to visual and follow the Fuji-Rebel- Kushimoto route to fly near Mount Fuji and allow passengers to see it better. At 13:50 flight 911 began to follow the runway, and at 15:58 in clear weather it flew out of the airport, flying over the smoldering wreckage of DC-8 from Canadian Pacific Airlines , which crashed 17 hours before ^[6] .

After takeoff, the crew climbed above Tokyo Bay , then turned southwest, passing north of Odawara , then made another right turn and, following at a speed of 320–370 knots (590–685 km / h) at 298 ° on level 160 (about 4900 meters), passed Gotembu ^[6] . Coming further to the north-west, the airliner, gradually descending, went to Mount Fuji, 3776 meters ( 12 385 feet) high, approaching it from the leeward side. The sky at that time was clear, and according to the weather station on the mountain, the wind speed was 60–70 knots (31–36 m / s). According to eyewitnesses, in the rear of the plane suddenly appeared a white trace, similar to steam. Further, parts of the structure began to separate from the liner, while the white trace in the back was strengthened. Without tail, engines and part of the right wing plane, the Boeing entered a flat corkscrew ^[7] . At an altitude of about 2000 feet (600 meters), the front of the fuselage separated from the overloads ^[1] . The rest of the fuselage, spinning in a flat corkscrew, continued to fall, until at 13:25 it crashed into a mountainside at an altitude of 1066 meters (about 3500 feet) above sea ​​level . The total length of the debris field was about 16 km (10 miles), while the bow fell about 300 meters from the main debris. All 124 people on board died ^[8] .

One of the employees of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces was located in the western part of Fuji and managed to photograph a falling plane. From these photographs, it was concluded that there was no smoke during the destruction. Also, among the wreckage of the Speedbird 911, an eight-millimeter movie camera was found, with which one of the passengers took a view from the window before the crash itself. Just before the end of the recording, the image suddenly changed to a blurred image of the cabin, which meant that there was an explosive decompression . As a result of the study of the wreckage, it was found that the vertical keel and the right stabilizer were separated first, and then part of the right plane, after which the liner went into a flat corkscrew until the fuselage collapsed from overloads ^[7] . When examining the fractures of the tail unit, microcracks were found in the region of the bolt holes. Inspection of a number of other B707 and B720 showed that 61 more also had microcracks in the area of ​​the bolts of the vertical keel ^[9] . However, further tests showed that these microcracks were not the cause of the disaster. In addition, according to Boeing, the destruction of the keel could only occur at a load above 110% of the maximum allowable ^[7] .

Then attention turned to weather conditions. So, despite the clear weather, the search for the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk of the U.S. Navy encountered severe turbulence , after which the pilot stole the plane, fearing for the integrity of the structure. After landing, the aircraft’s accelerometer readings were checked, according to which the aircraft experienced overloads from +9 g to −4 g ^[8] . Moderate to strong turbulence near the mountains was also indicated by pilots from other search aircraft. This testified to strong air currents near the mountain slopes ^{[7] [10]} .

Based on these data, a probable reason was indicated that the aircraft, when flying near the mountain, encountered anomalously strong turbulence, while undergoing lateral overloads that were higher than the permissible ones for the structure. As a result, there was a separation of the first tail unit, then of all engines and the right plane, which led to a complete loss of control. Visible to witnesses, a white trail, similar to steam, created fuel flowing from damaged tanks ^[8] . Strong turbulence in moderate winds was caused by mountain slopes that created powerful vertical flows ^[6] .

After the crash of flight 911, instructions were sent to airlines setting minimum operating distances from the mountains ^[11] .

A memorial was erected in memory of those killed on Mount Fuji ^[12] .

The Fuji disaster was the third major plane crash near Tokyo in a month. So, 29 days earlier, on February 4, during a landing approach in Tokyo , a Boeing 727 of the Japanese All Nippon Airways crashed due to a fall in Tokyo Bay , and 133 people were killed. And on the evening of March 4, also during a landing approach in Tokyo , the DC-8 of Canadian Canadian Pacific Airlines crashed , with the death of 64 people ^[1] . Several people who survived the crash of a Canadian plane, by tragic coincidence, were on board the crashed Speedbird 911 ^[11] . Such a series of disasters led to the outflow of passengers who preferred air transport over ground, including the high-speed Tokaido-Shinkansen ( Tokyo - Osaka ) railway. As a result, on March 18, Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways announced a reduction in flights between Tokyo and Osaka ^[13] .

A group of authors of the fifth James Bond film (“ You Only Live Twice ”), including Albert Broccoli , Harry Zaltsman , Adam Ken , Lewis Gilbert and Freddy Young ^[6], was supposed to fly with 911 flight. In Japan, they studied the scene for the fifth bondian film and handed over plane tickets, as they chose to stay in Tokyo and look at the ninja ^[14] .