Japan Air Lines Cargo Flight 1045

(Redirected from JAL Cargo Flight 8054) 1977 plane flight which crashed in Anchorage, Alaska, U.S.

Japan Air Lines Cargo Flight 1045
Accident
JA8054, the aircraft involved in the accident.
Date	13 January 1977 (1977-01-13)
Summary	Stall on takeoff due to pilot error aggravated by intoxication and airframe icing
Site	Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, Anchorage, Alaska, U.S. 61°10′N 150°2′W / 61.167°N 150.033°W / 61.167; -150.033
Aircraft
Aircraft type	McDonnell Douglas DC-8-62AF
Operator	JAL Cargo (Japan Air Lines)
Call sign	JAPAN AIR 8054
Registration	JA8054
Flight origin	Grant County International Airport, Grant County, Washington, U.S.
Stopover	Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, Anchorage, Alaska, U.S.
Destination	Haneda Airport, Tokyo, Japan
Occupants	5
Passengers	2
Crew	3
Fatalities	5
Survivors	0

Japan Air Lines Cargo Flight 1045 was a charter flight on January 13, 1977, from Grant County, Washington, to Tokyo, Japan, with a stopover in Anchorage, Alaska. The flight crashed during the initial climb shortly after takeoff from Anchorage, in part because the captain, Hugh L. Marsh, was intoxicated as shown by a blood alcohol level of 0.29; the co-pilot and the other crew were not impaired. All of those on board, including three flight crew members, were killed in the crash.

Aircraft

The aircraft involved in the accident was a Douglas DC-8-62AF, equipped with four Pratt & Whitney JT3D engines; registered JA8054 to JAL Cargo, a subsidiary of Japan Air Lines (JAL). The aircraft had a total of 19,744 flight hours, of which 8,708 were since the last major inspection and 45 since the last check. Records showed the aircraft had been maintained within Japanese, American, and ICAO recommendations.

Ice on the aircraft

Mechanics reported ice present on the inlet guide vanes, engine cowlings and engine bullet noses, but no ice was found on the aircraft surfaces. A mechanic recommended that the engine anti-icing system be used, but no maintenance was performed on the aircraft in Anchorage. Investigators suspected that ice on the airfoil or transducer may have caused the stall warning to fail. The ice present on the surface of the wings and leading edges could have reduced the angle of attack needed to produce a stall.

Crew

On board the aircraft were three flight crew members, two cattle handlers, and live cattle being shipped to Japan as cargo.

The cockpit crew consisted of:

Captain Hugh L. Marsh, age 53, hired by JAL on June 24, 1969. He was certified to serve as captain of the DC-8 on February 9, 1970; and on October 30, 1969, issued a JCAB airline transport rating, No. 001168, as well as type rated for the DC-8. Due to minor vision impairment he was required to wear corrective glasses for near vision as needed in flight. On September 10, 1970, he was certified as second class navigator. Marsh had logged a total of 23,252 flight hours, including 4,040 hours on the DC-8.
First officer Kunihika Akitani, age 31, hired by JAL on May 6, 1970, and certified as a copilot on the DC-8 on August 1, 1976. Akitani had 1,603 flight hours, with 1,208 of them on the DC-8.
Flight engineer Nobumasa Yokokawa, age 35, hired by JAL on April 1, 1960. On November 20, 1960, he received his flight engineer DC-8 type rating. Yokokawa was also certified to serve as flight engineer on Convair 880 and Boeing 747 aircraft. Yokokawa had 4,920 flight hours, including 2,757 hours on the DC-8.

Pilot intoxication

A taxi driver who drove Captain Marsh to the airport told investigators that he seemed disoriented. At 04:50 local time a taxi dispatcher phoned JAL and warned of an intoxicated pilot. JAL responded by saying there seemed nothing unusual about the flight crew. Autopsies after the crash showed that the captain was heavily intoxicated, with the initial blood alcohol level 298 mg per 100 ml and a vitreous alcohol level of 310 mg per 100 ml taken twelve hours after the crash; the state of Alaska considers 100 mg per 100 ml legally unacceptable for driving. Of the thirteen people questioned who had spoken with Marsh before the flight, six stated he had been drinking or appeared to be drunk.

Flight synopsis

At 05:15 the crew boarded the aircraft; the driver of the crew car stated: "...he was in good condition as far as ways I've seen him sometimes and I made that statement before I ever heard any rumors that he was supposedly drunk or had been partying or whatever." as to whether the pilot appeared intoxicated. Cockpit voice recorder (CVR) data showed that the crew began the prestart checklists at 06:09; CVR data showed the takeoff was normal until the aircraft slowed acceleration from V_R to V₂ speed; the aircraft stalled almost immediately after reaching V₂ speed. At 06:35:39 AST, JAL Cargo Flight 1045 crashed at Anchorage International Airport shortly after takeoff from runway 24L. A witness reportedly saw the flight climb to approximately 100 feet above the ground, veer to the left, and then slide out of the air. All five people on board the aircraft perished in the crash.

Cause

According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Flight 1045 crashed due to erroneous inputs to the flight controls, factors for such inputs being pilot intoxication and airframe icing. The NTSB noted that the two other flight crew members should have corrected the intoxicated pilot but did not.

The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the accident was a stall that resulted from the pilot's control inputs aggravated by airframe icing while the pilot was under the influence of alcohol. Contributing to the cause of this accident was the failure of the other flightcrew members to prevent the captain from attempting the flight.

References

^ Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident McDonnell Douglas DC-8-62AF JA8054 Anchorage International Airport, AK (ANC)". Aviation Safety Network. Flight Safety Foundation. Retrieved April 5, 2017.
^ "Japan Air Lines Company, Ltd., McDonnell-Douglas DC-8-62F, JA 8054, Anchorage, Alaska January 13, 1977" (PDF). National Transportation Safety Board. January 16, 1979. NTSB-AAR-78-7. Retrieved April 5, 2017. - Copy at Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University.
Hagen, Jan U. (August 13, 2013). Confronting Mistakes: Lessons from the Aviation Industry when Dealing with Error. Springer. ISBN 9781137276186.
"Registration Details For JA8054 (Japan Airlines) DC-8-62AF". www.planelogger.com. PlaneLogger. Retrieved April 5, 2017.
"Accidents JAL has caused other than Flight 123 Accident". Japan Airlines. Retrieved October 20, 2007.
"JAL Group's Approach to Safety" (PDF). p. 49. Archived from the original on October 21, 2021. Retrieved July 8, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)

External links

Portals:

External image
Pre-accident picture of aircraft at Airliners.net

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in 1977 (1977)
Jan 5 Connellan air disasterJan 13 Aeroflot Flight 3843Jan 13 Japan Air Lines Cargo Flight 1045Jan 15 Linjeflyg Flight 618Feb 15 Aeroflot Flight 5003Mar 17 British Airtours Boeing 707 crashMar 27 Tenerife airport disasterApr 4 Southern Airways Flight 242Apr 12 Delta Air Lines Flight 1080May 7 Tavda mid-air collisionMay 10 Israeli CH-53 crashMay 14 Dan-Air Boeing 707 crashMay 27 Aeroflot Flight 331Jul 10 Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-134 hijackingJul 20 Aeroflot Flight B-2Aug 1 Encino helicopter crashSep 21 Malév Flight 203Sep 27 Japan Air Lines Flight 715Sep 27 Yokohama F-4 crashSep 28 Japan Air Lines Flight 472Oct 13 Lufthansa Flight 181Oct 20 Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crashNov 19 TAP Flight 425Dec 2 Libyan Arab Airlines Tu-154 crashDec 4 Malaysian Airline System Flight 653Dec 13 Air Indiana Flight 216Dec 17 United Airlines Flight 2860Dec 18 SA de Transport Aérien Flight 730Dec 19 Vieques Air Link crash
1976 ◄ ► 1978

Aviation accidents and incidents in 1977 (1977)

Jan 5 Connellan air disasterJan 13 Aeroflot Flight 3843Jan 13 Japan Air Lines Cargo Flight 1045Jan 15 Linjeflyg Flight 618Feb 15 Aeroflot Flight 5003Mar 17 British Airtours Boeing 707 crashMar 27 Tenerife airport disasterApr 4 Southern Airways Flight 242Apr 12 Delta Air Lines Flight 1080May 7 Tavda mid-air collisionMay 10 Israeli CH-53 crashMay 14 Dan-Air Boeing 707 crashMay 27 Aeroflot Flight 331Jul 10 Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-134 hijackingJul 20 Aeroflot Flight B-2Aug 1 Encino helicopter crashSep 21 Malév Flight 203Sep 27 Japan Air Lines Flight 715Sep 27 Yokohama F-4 crashSep 28 Japan Air Lines Flight 472Oct 13 Lufthansa Flight 181Oct 20 Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crashNov 19 TAP Flight 425Dec 2 Libyan Arab Airlines Tu-154 crashDec 4 Malaysian Airline System Flight 653Dec 13 Air Indiana Flight 216Dec 17 United Airlines Flight 2860Dec 18 SA de Transport Aérien Flight 730Dec 19 Vieques Air Link crash

1976 ◄ ► 1978

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History

JAL accidents and incidents	Flight 301 (1952) Flight 2 (1968) Flight 351 (1970) Flight 471 (1972) Flight 472 (1972) Flight 446 (1972) Flight 404 (1973) Food poisoning incident (1975) Flight 1045 (1977) Flight 715 (1977) Flight 472 (1977) Flight 350 (1982) Flight 792 (1982) Flight 123 (1985) Flight 1628 incident (1986) Flight 46E (1993) Flights 907 and 958 (2001) Flight 516 (2024)

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Kazuo Inamori

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States and U.S. territories in the 1970s
1970	Cornfield Bomber (February 1970) Eastern Air Lines Shuttle Flight 1320 (March 1970) ALM Flight 980 (May 1970)* Trans International Airlines Flight 863 (September 1970) Wichita State University football team plane crash (October 1970) Southern Airways Flight 932 (November 14 1970) Capitol International Airways Flight C2C3/26 (November 27 1970)
1971	B-52C Lake Michigan crash (January 1971) Colorado Aviation Aero Commander 680 crash (May 1971) Hughes Airwest Flight 706 (June 6 1971) Allegheny Airlines Flight 485 (June 7 1971) Pan Am Flight 845 (July 1971) Alaska Airlines Flight 1866 (September 1971) Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305 (See D. B. Cooper, November 1971)
1972	Mohawk Airlines Flight 405 (March 1972) Delta Air Lines Flight 9570 (May 1972) American Airlines Flight 96 (June 12 1972) Prinair Flight 191 (June 24 1972)* Lake Winnebago mid-air collision (June 29 1972) Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 710 (July 5 1972) Delta Air Lines Flight 841 (July 31 1972) Sacramento Canadair Sabre accident (September 1972) Southern Airways Flight 49 (November 1972) United Air Lines Flight 553 (December 10 1972) Chicago–O'Hare runway collision (December 20 1972) Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 (December 29 1972) Puerto Rico DC-7 crash (December 31 1972)*
1973	DeKalb–Peachtree Airport Learjet crash (February 1973) Ozark Air Lines Flight 809 (July 23 1973) Delta Air Lines Flight 723 (July 31 1973) TWA Flight 742 (August 1973) World Airways Flight 802 (September 8 1973) Texas International Airlines Flight 655 (September 27 1973) Pan Am Flight 160 (November 3 1973) National Airlines Flight 27 (November 3 1973) Iberia Flight 933 (December 1973)
1974	Commonwealth Commuter Flight 317 (January 6 1974) Pan Am Flight 806 (January 30 1974)* Delta Air Lines Flight 523 (February 1974) Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 (September 1974) TWA Flight 514 (December 1 1974) Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 6231 (December 1 1974)
1975	Golden West Airlines Flight 261 (Janaury 1975) Eastern Air Lines Flight 66 (June 1975) Wien Air Alaska Flight 99 (August 1975) Overseas National Airways Flight 032 (November 1975)
1976	Alaska Airlines Flight 60 (April 5 1976) American Airlines Flight 625 (April 27 1976)* Air Manila Flight 702 (June 1976) TWA Flight 355 (September 1976)
1977	Japan Air Lines Cargo Flight 1045 (January 1977) Southern Airways Flight 242 (April 4 1977) Delta Air Lines Flight 1080 (April 12 1977) Encino helicopter crash (August 1977) Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crash (October 1977) Air Indiana Flight 216 (December 13 1977) United Airlines Flight 2860 (December 18 1977) Vieques Air Link crash (December 19 1977)*
1978	Continental Airlines Flight 603 (March 1 1978) United Airlines Flight 696 (March 13 1978) National Airlines Flight 193 (May 1978) Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 182 (September 25 1978) Air Caribbean Flight 309 (September 26 1978)* Rocky Mountain Airways Flight 217 (December 4 1978) TWA Flight 541 (December 21 1978) United Airlines Flight 173 (December 28 1978)
1979	TWA Flight 841 (April 1979) American Airlines Flight 191 (May 25 1979) Downeast Airlines Flight 46 (May 30 1979) Air New England Flight 248 (June 17 1979) American Airlines Flight 293 (June 20 1979) American Airlines Flight 444 (November 1979)
This list is incomplete. An asterisk (*) denotes an incident that took place in a U.S. territory, or in adjacent waters thereof. Flying Tiger Line Flight 45 (July 1970) occurred in the United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands. 1960–1969 ◄ 1970–1979 ► 1980–1989

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