JAL Museum & Educational Centre
IFA Comment: A sad story but one of most importance. It is a sobering reminder of the greatest fatality single civil aircraft accident. The crash was attributed to an improper repair in the rear bulkhead several years earlier, leading to catastrophic structural failure. We need to be reminded of this accident given that it’s possible to imagine that such an event could occur again.
On August 12, 1985, JAL123 crashed on the ridges of Mt. Osutaka, and 520 valuable lives perished. In face of the pain and grief of the bereaved families and public distrust in airline safety, we pledged that we would never again allow such a tragic accident to occur.
We opened the Safety Promotion Center on April 24, 2006 to reconfirm the importance of flight safety and to embed in our minds, the lessons learned from this accident.
JAL Group positions the Safety Promotion Center as its ‘Fortress of Safety’ and the starting point of safe and reliable operations. Every staff is reminded that valuable lives and property are entrusted to us in our work.
Exhibits aircraft debris including the aft pressure bulkhead, the malfunction regarded as the main cause of the JAL123 accident, the aft fuselage wreckage, cockpit voice recorder, passengers’ personal belongings, newspaper reports, and photographs of the crash site.
The Library features the history of aviation safety, which describes safety improvements based on lessons learned from accidents, and a panel describing actual cases of severe accident mitigation, etc.
Also shown are message cards containing “My Safety Pledge” of JAL Group staff.
Link to Japan Airlines website – for more information on the tragic crash, safety centre including visitor information.
