1971 All Nippon Airways Boeing 727 collides with Japanese Air Force trainers, killing 162

Wreckage of All Nippon Boeing 727-200 in Japan – 162 people died. Source: The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images

The Boeing 727 of All Nippon Airways was on a routine flight to Tokyo. But on July 30, 1971, two training jets of the Japanese Air Force crossed its path. It was the worst disaster in civil aviation up to that time.

The Distress Call

The voice on the radio was frantic with horror: "This is All Nippon – losing control!" Nothing more than this distress call came from the Boeing 727 of Japan's largest private airline (ANA) with registration JA8329. Instead, air traffic controllers of the military airspace surveillance saw on their radar screens how two points merged and then disappeared – erased as if by a ghostly hand. They recorded the exact time: 2:05 p.m. Japan Standard Time on July 30, 1971. That was also the moment of death for all 162 people on board the aircraft – the deadliest aviation disaster up to that time in terms of the number of fatalities.

Flight Details

The commercial aircraft, a long-fuselage version of the US model, was on the approximately 800-kilometer flight from Sapporo on the island of Hokkaido to Tokyo that Friday afternoon. It had taken off at 1:33 p.m. local time.

On board:

• Two pilots and a flight engineer (an American, unlike the other crew members)
• Four flight attendants
• Officially 154 passengers

In reality, however, there was one more person on the 727-200: a woman had her ten-month-old baby with her, who did not need a ticket.

The Military Aircraft

At the same time, two jets of the Japanese Air Force were practicing air combat maneuvers in the north of Japan's largest island, Honshu. They had taken off from Matsushima Air Base at 1:28 p.m. for formation flight training.

• Instructor: Captain Tamotsu Kuma, 31 years old
• Student: Sergeant Yoshimi Ichikawa, 22 years old

Both flew outdated F-86 "Sabre" aircraft. The model had been gradually retired from active fighter service since 1962 but was still used for flight exercises.

The Boeing with registration JA8329 at Tokyo Airport in May 1971. Less than three months later, it crashed. Source: Wikimedia Commons/Nobuo Oyama/CC BY-SA 4.0

The Collision

The 727 had been assigned airway J11L at an altitude of 28,000 feet (8,500 meters). The air combat exercise was supposed to take place in the designated training airspace nine kilometers from airway J11L.

However, the flight instructor accidentally left the assigned training airspace. He crossed airway J11L and made a 180-degree turn; his wingman followed him. To return, the two-plane formation had to cross the civilian flight corridor again. The formation was flying at approximately the same altitude as Flight 58.

The student pilot followed the instructor and did not pay attention to civilian air traffic. Therefore, Ichikawa did not notice the ANA aircraft, whose flight path was approaching from the west at an altitude of just over 8,000 meters. Only when his instructor instructed him to distance himself from Flight 58 did the student turn to starboard to avoid the 727.

The F-86 "Sabre" with identification 92-7932, which collided with All Nippon Flight 58, photographed on July 25, 1971. Source: Wikimedia Commons/Y.Toda

But it was too late: The leading edge of the right wing of his F-86 struck the left horizontal stabilizer of the ANA aircraft. The right wing of the fighter jet broke off, causing the aircraft to crash uncontrollably. Ichikawa was able to eject. The Boeing 727 sustained damage to the...