On December 28, 1997, United Airlines Flight 826 was operated by a
Boeing 747-100 flying from
New Tokyo Airport (which changed its name to Narita International Airport in 2004), Japan to
Honolulu International Airport
Daniel K. Inouye International Airport , also known as Honolulu International Airport, is the main airport of Oahu, Hawaii.[clear-air turbulence
In meteorology, clear-air turbulence (CAT) is the turbulent movement of air masses in the absence of any visual clues, such as clouds, and is caused when bodies of air moving at widely different speeds meet.
The atmospheric region most suscept ...](_blank)
in the area and the seat belt sign was turned on. Moments later, the aircraft suddenly dropped around , seriously injuring 15 passengers and 3 crew members.
The plane turned around and landed safely back in Tokyo, but one passenger, a 32-year-old Japanese woman, died.
" CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
. December 30, 1997. Retrieved on December 23, 2014.
Flight details
Flight 826 was piloted by an experienced cockpit crew. The captain had around 15,000 flight hours, including 1,100 hours on the Boeing 747. The first officer had around 10,000 hours, including 1,500 hours on the Boeing 747, and the flight engineer had around 3,500 hours of flight time, including 850 hours in the Boeing 747. The cabin crew ranged from 8 to 34 years in seniority.[
Flight 826 departed Tokyo's Narita airport on December 28, 1997, at 20:30 local time. It reached a cruising altitude of just under a half-hour later. The flight was originally planned to cruise at , but ]air traffic control
Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airs ...
(ATC) only cleared to cruise at the lower altitude due to air traffic. The captain chose the only authorized route at the time in which severe turbulence or thunderstorms were not forecast to occur.[
About an hour later, after calm conditions, the "fasten seat belt sign" came on again without any announcement. After about two minutes of not very strong turbulence, suddenly the 747 dropped slightly then shot back up and then back down at such a velocity that a ]purser
A purser is the person on a ship principally responsible for the handling of money on board. On modern merchant ships, the purser is the officer responsible for all administration (including the ship's cargo and passenger manifests) and supply. ...
, who was hanging on to a fixed countertop, found himself hanging upside down holding the countertop with his feet in the air. The airplane then pitched up and steeply climbed before heavily falling again, this occurring when the right wing dropped sharply. After another moderate climb, the flight returned to normal.[
After the incident, a Japanese woman who had her belt unfastened was found lying unconscious and bleeding heavily in the aisle. Despite quick resuscitation efforts by injured flight attendants and a passenger doctor, she was soon pronounced dead.][
Fifteen passengers and three flight attendants had spine and neck fractures. Another 87 other passengers had bruises, sprains and other minor injuries. While Henderson Field on Midway Atoll was the closest airport, the captain opted to return to Tokyo after assessing the aircraft was still flightworthy and Tokyo had medical facilities judged better to handle the injuries.][
Three hours later, the aircraft landed safely at Narita Airport.
]
NTSB investigation and aftermath
The flight data recorder
A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to as a "black box", an outdated name which has ...
, as analyzed by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), found that the sensors had initially recorded a peak normal acceleration of 1.814g in the first sharp ascent. Then the data showed that the aircraft had an out of control roll by 18° and then plunged to an extreme negative G of -0.824g.
The NTSB investigation found a potential issue that could have prevented the death and many injuries. Nobody could remember hearing the typical "fasten seat belt" chime when the fasten seat belt light came on about two minutes before the turbulence event and no announcements of the "fasten seat belt" light being on were made in either English or Japanese.[ The airline also took measures to enforce its policy of encouraging passengers to keep their seat belts fastened even if the seat belt sign is off.][
United Airlines had previously intended to sell the aging aircraft to a salvage company in early 1998. After this incident, the airline opted to retire the aircraft soon afterwards with Flight 826 being its last revenue flight.][
]
See also
* TWA Flight 742
References
External links
*
{{coord missing, Pacific Ocean
Aviation accidents and incidents in 1997
Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 747
826
Aviation accidents and incidents in the Pacific Ocean
December 1997 events