Today’s podcast goes into the horrific crash that led to the largest loss of life in a single-plane accident in aviation history.  Not only was the crash horrific, but the aftermath of the rescue was so bungled, that it left people to die.

As always, you can download the latest podcast from here, find us on iTunes, find us on Stitcher, or listen to the episode in the embedded player below.

Sources for the podcast are:

• Wikipedia: Japan Airlines Flight 123, Bon Festival, Japan Airlines Flight 115
• AvGeekery.com: JAL Flight 123: When A Seven year Old Shoddy Repair Job Brought Down a 747
• The Vintage News: In 1985, four passengers miraculously survived the horrible crash of the Japan Airlines Flight 123
• History: JAL flight 123 crashes into Mount Otsuka
• Association for the Study of Failure: Crash of Japan Airlines B-747 at Mt. Osutaka

A few observations.  First off, I’d never heard of Association for the Study of Failure until researching this podcast.  But if you go through their scenario as it comes to this event, the list of causation about the accident is quite long, but the first non-human factor (usage) comes thirteenth on their list, which starts with “Ignorance”.  That’s pretty harsh, but in reality, true.

Finally, here’s the pictures as promised, used from Wikipedia:

Survivor Seating Chart

Amateur photographer’s pictures of the crippled aircraft.

Correct (top) and incorrect (bottom) splicing repair of the after pressurized bulkhead.