Japan Airlines Flight 472 (1972) - Revision history

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+The aircraft involved was a [[Douglas DC-8|Douglas DC-8-53]], registration JA8013. The aircraft was c/n 45681. It had first flown in 1964.<ref name=ASN240972>{{cite web|url=http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19720924-1 |title=Accident description |publisher=Aviation Safety Network |access-date=24 December 2009}}</ref>
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-{{For|the hijacking of Flight 472 in 1977|Japan Airlines Flight 472 (1977)}}
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{{For|the hijacking of Flight 472 in 1977|Japan Airlines Flight 472 (1977)}}
{{Expand Japanese|日本航空ボンベイ空港誤認着陸事故|date=December 2009}}
{{Refimprove|date=December 2009}}
{{Infobox aircraft occurrence
| name = Japan Airlines Flight 472
| image = DC-8 Japan Airlines.JPG
| alt =
| caption = A [[Douglas DC-8]] used by Japan Airlines, similar to the aircraft involved
| Date = {{start-date|24 September 1972}}
| Type = Runway excursion due to pilot error
| occurrence_type = Accident
| Site = [[Juhu Aerodrome]], [[Mumbai|Bombay]], [[India]]
| Injuries = 11
| Fatalities = 0
| aircraft_type = [[Douglas DC-8]]-53
| aircraft_name =
| Operator = [[Japan Airlines]]
| tail_number = JA8013
| occupants = 122
| Passengers = 108
| Crew = 14
| fatalities = 0
| missing =
| Survivors = 122
| Coordinates = {{Coord|19|05|57|N|72|50|20|E|display=inline, title}}
| Origin = [[London Heathrow Airport]], [[London]]
| stopover = [[Frankfurt Airport]], [[Frankfurt]]
| stopover0 = [[Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport]], [[Rome]]
| stopover1 = [[Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport]], [[Beirut]]
| stopover2 = [[Mehrabad International Airport]], [[Tehran]]
| stopover3 = [[Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport|Santacruz Airport]], [[Mumbai|Bombay]]
| stopover4 = [[Don Mueang International Airport]], [[Bangkok]]
| last_stopover = [[Kai Tak Airport]], [[Hong Kong]]
| Destination = [[Haneda Airport]], [[Tokyo]]
}}
'''Japan Airlines Flight 472''' was a flight from [[London]] to [[Tokyo]] via [[Frankfurt]], [[Rome]], [[Beirut]], [[Tehran]], [[Bombay]], [[Bangkok]] and [[Hong Kong]]. On September 24, 1972, the flight landed at [[Juhu Aerodrome]] near [[Bombay]], India instead of the city's much larger [[Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport|Santacruz Airport]] (now Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport) and overran the runway, resulting in the aircraft being written off after being damaged beyond economic repair.<ref name = "IE6">{{cite news|title=Rs 200-cr plan for Juhu aerodrome, more if tunnel built |url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/rs-200cr-plan-for-juhu-aerodrome-more-if-tunnel-built/575786/2 |publisher=[[Indian Express]] |date= 2010-02-05|access-date=2012-02-22}}</ref>

==Aircraft==
The aircraft involved was a [[Douglas DC-8|Douglas DC-8-53]], registration JA8013. The aircraft was c/n 45681. It had first flown in 1964.<ref name=ASN240972>{{cite web|url=http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19720924-1 |title=Accident description |publisher=Aviation Safety Network |access-date=24 December 2009}}</ref>

==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 [[Instrument Landing System|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, "[[Visual flight rules|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 [[UTC+5:30|local time]] (01:20 [[Coordinated Universal Time|UTC]]), it was in fact landing on Runway 08 of Juhu Aerodrome. Juhu is 3.7 km west of Santacruz, and for use by small aircraft only.<ref name=ASN240972/> Runway 08 of Juhu was only {{convert|1143|m|ft}} long, too short for a large aircraft like JL472.{{Citation needed|date=December 2009}}

After deploying the [[thrust reverser]]s, the captain of Flight 472 realized the mistake and immediately deployed [[Spoiler (aeronautics)|spoilers]] and applied maximum braking power, but an overrun was inevitable. The DC-8 overshot the runway, breaking off both engines on the [[Port (nautical)|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 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.<ref name=ASN240972/> 2 cockpit crew and 9 passengers (all non-Japanese){{clarify|date=January 2012}} were reported injured{{Citation needed|date=January 2012}}. It was the second Japan Airlines accident in India, coming just two months after the fatal crash of [[Japan Airlines Flight 471]] in [[Delhi]].

==Cause==
The accident itself was nothing more than [[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), even though the Juhu Aerodrome had been built before India's independence, in the colonial era. 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 [[British Overseas Airways Corporation|BOAC]] [[de Havilland Comet|DH.106 Comet]] also landed at Juhu Aerodrome instead of Santacruz Airport. The aircraft was flown out some nine days later.<ref name=Wrong>{{cite web|url=http://www.thirdamendment.com/wrongway.html |title=The Legacy of Douglas Corrigan: "Wrong Way" Landings By Commercial Airliners |publisher=Third Amendment |access-date=25 December 2009}}</ref>

On 28 May 1968, the pilot of a [[Garuda Indonesia]] [[Convair 990]] had also mistaken the same Juhu Aerodrome for Santacruz Airport and tried to land his aircraft. It overshot the runway falling just short of the traffic road ahead and several residential buildings when its nose wheel got stuck in a ditch at the end of the runway. All passengers survived.{{citation needed|date=January 2012}}

Only four months after the Japan Airlines Flight 472 incident, another similar incident happened when an [[Ilyushin Il-18]] ([[turboprop]] airliner) of [[Interflug]], an airline of the [[German Democratic Republic]] (East Germany), landed at the wrong airport and stopped immediately in front of a parked Japan Airlines aircraft, narrowly escaping a collision.

In 2006 alone, there were three events of civilian airliners landing at [[31st Air Base|Poznań-Krzesiny military airbase]] in Poland: a British Beech 400A Beechjet (N709EL) on July 17, Turkish Boeing 737-400 (TC-SKG) on August 16 and Cessna 560 (DCASA) on October 3. Of these incidents, the one involving Turkish Boeing was the most severe, as the air base was closed for operations at the time, meaning that the runway lights and other means of support for landing aircraft were switched off. In all cases, the proximity and similarity of Krzesiny air base to civilian [[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.<ref>http://lotniczapolska.pl/Lotnicze-pomylki-%E2%80%93-Boeing-na-Krzesinach,6563 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818112504/http://lotniczapolska.pl/Lotnicze-pomylki-%E2%80%93-Boeing-na-Krzesinach,6563 |date=2016-08-18 }} ''Lotnicze pomyłki: Boeing na Krzesinach'' [Aviation mistakes: Boeing at Krzesiny] (Polish), ''Lotnicza Polska'' 13.04.2009, date of access: 30.06.2016</ref>

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==
{{Portal|Japan|Aviation}}
{{Reflist}}

{{Aviation accidents and incidents in 1972}}
{{JAL Group}}

[[Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in 1972]]
[[Category:Accidents and incidents involving the Douglas DC-8]]
[[Category:Japan Airlines accidents and incidents|472]]
[[Category:Airliner accidents and incidents caused by pilot error]]
[[Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in India]]
[[Category:1972 in India]]
[[Category:1972 in Japan]]
[[Category:September 1972 events in Asia]]