Canadian Pacific Airlines Flight 402

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Canadian Pacific Airlines Flight 402
Canadian Pacific Airlines Douglas DC-8-43 Volpati-1.jpg

An identically constructed Douglas DC-8 from the company.
Accident summary
Accident type Controlled flight into terrain
place Tokyo , Japan
date March 4th 1966
Fatalities 64
Survivors 8th
Aircraft
Aircraft type Douglas DC-8-43
operator Canadian Pacific Air Lines
Mark CF-CPK
Passengers 62
crew 10
Lists of aviation accidents

Canadian Pacific Airlines Flight 402 (CP402) was the flight of a Douglas DC-8-43 that crashed on March 4, 1966 while attempting a night approach at Tokyo Haneda Airport in Japan . Of the 62 passengers and 10 crew members, only 8 survived the accident.

the accident

The Canadian Pacific Air Lines machine was on a flight from Hong Kong via Tokyo to Vancouver and took off from Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong at 4:14 p.m. Japanese time . The flight had been on hold for almost an hour, waiting for the visibility conditions that meet the minimum requirements for an instrument approach. After visibility had actually improved, the tower finally cleared the landing for an instrument approach, but the crew had to abandon the attempt to land when visibility deteriorated again. At 8:05 p.m. local time, the pilots informed the tower that they wanted to set course for Taiwan when they were informed of the improvement in visibility beyond the minimum conditions of five eighths of a nautical mile (about 1160 meters). The captain then decided to make another attempt to land before evading to Taiwan.

The ground-guided approach proceeded normally until the machine suddenly sank below the normal glide path on the screen of the precision approach radar. About 850 meters from the start of the runway, the landing gear brushed against part of the approach lights in thick fog , and the pilots lost control of the machine, which then collided with several other obstacles, including a two-meter high boundary wall. The burning debris of the aircraft stretched over almost a kilometer on the airfield.

The investigative commission, which had been set up by the Japanese government, found in its report published two years later that no mistakes had been made by the air traffic controllers in the airport tower. She found that the cause of the accident was a pilot's error, but confirmed that the poor visibility could have caused an optical illusion that irritated the pilots. The officially accepted reason for the accident was a misjudgment by the commander during the approach due to difficult weather conditions.

Others

This aviation accident was one of five fatalities in Japan's commercial aviation industry in 1966. Less than 24 hours later, a Boeing 707 on BOAC Flight 911 broke up in a clear air turbulence on the leeward side of Mount Fuji soon after takeoff , all 124 inmates were killed. The total number of victims was 188, which was a maximum for a single day to date.

Less than a month earlier, a Boeing 727 on All Nippon Airways Flight 60 crashed into Tokyo Bay while approaching the same airport , killing all 133 people on board. Taken together, these three accidents shook confidence in Japanese commercial aviation, and both Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways were forced to adjust their domestic flight offers to meet the reduced demand.

swell

  • Kim Willenson (UPI): Jet spews dead, survivors 1 mile on Tokyo runway. In: The Chronicle Telegram of March 3, 1966. “Canadian Pacific Airlines DC8 jetliner with 71 persons reported aboard struck a sea wall while landing in heavy fog tonight and disintegrated into a mass of flaming wreckage that spewed the dead and survivors along half a mile of the runway. "
  • 64 Perish in Fiery Jet Crash. In: The Independent of March 5, 1966. "Officials of the American Broadcasting Co. paid tribute Friday to JESSE ZOUSMER, the network's Vice President who was killed in the crash of a Canadian Pacific jetliner in Tokyo."
  • The worst single day. In: Time of March 11, 1966. "Ironically, the doomed 707 had just taxied out for its takeoff past the wreckage of Canadian Pacific's Hong Kong-to-Tokyo flight."
  • Reuters In: The New York Times . Japan's airlines cut Tokyo-Osaka runs , (chargeable), March 19, 1966. "Japan Air Lines and All Nippon Airways announced today a reduction in their flights between Tokyo and Osaka following three air crashes in the last six weeks."
  • Associated Press . In: Winnipeg Free Press . Airport Absolved In 1966 Crash, TOKYO (AP). dated February 26, 1968. “A Japanese government-appointed team investigating the cause of the crash of a Canadian Pacific Airline DC-8 jetliner at Tokyo International Airport two years ago sent a final report to the Canadian government concluding that there was no fault at the airport's control tower. "
  • Reuters In: Winnipeg Free Press. Pilot blamed in crash. dated March 4, 1968. "An official Japanese report said Sunday the crash of a Canadian Pacific Airline DC-8 jetliner at Tokyo International Airport two years ago today was believed to have happened because the pilot misjudged his landing approach in foggy weather."
  • Aviation Safety Network : ASN Aircraft accident description Douglas DC-8-43 CF-CPK - Tokyo-Haneda Airport (HND). Retrieved June 2, 2007. “Tokyo cleared Flight 402 for another GCA approach to runway 33R. At 1 mile from touchdown the aircraft was 20 feet below the GCA glide path and was instructed to level off momentarily. "