All Nippon Airways Flight 58

All Nippon Airways Flight 58
Japan Air Self-Defense Force F-86

Occurrence
Date	July 30, 1971
Summary	Mid-air collision
Site	near Shizukuishi, Japan
Aircraft type	Boeing 727-281
Operator	All Nippon Airways
Registration	JA8329disaster
Passengers	155
Crew	7
Fatalities	162
Injuries	1
Survivors	0

All Nippon Airways (ANA) Flight 58 was a Boeing 727-281 aircraft that collided with a Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) F-86 fighter jet while en route from Chitose Airport in (Sapporo) to Tokyo International Airport (Haneda Airport) in Tokyo on July 30, 1971. All 162 of those on board the Boeing 727 died; the pilot and sole occupant of the F-86, a trainee with the JASDF, ejected from his aircraft shortly before the collision and survived.

Flight 58 had just departed Sapporo and was flying at an altitude of FL280. Meanwhile, a 22-year-old JASDF trainee, Yoshimi Ichikawa (市川良美, Ichikawa Yoshimi), and his instructor, Captain Kuma, were practicing maneuvers in their F-86 fighters. Ichikawa, who had not been watching for traffic, was instructed to break away from the 727 as it approached, but he could not avoid the accident. Instead, he ejected. The leading edge of the F-86 struck the left horizontal stabilizer of the Boeing, causing the passenger jet to disintegrate in mid-air and crash near the town of Shijukuishi.

Most of the passengers came from Fuji, Shizuoka Prefecture and were returning from a trip to Hokkaido.

At the time the disaster was the deadliest single aircraft crash in history, with a previous disaster in Venezuela in second place.

References

• Aviation Safety Network report on Flight 58
• The Worst Ever, TIME, August 9, 1971.

39°41′N 140°59′E