All Nippon Airways Kochi Airport belly landing accident

The All Nippon Airways Kochi Airport belly landing accident (Zennikkū-ki Kōchi Kūkō dōtai chakuriku jiko) is an aviation accident (belly landing accident) involving All Nippon Airways (ANA) Flight 1603 that occurred at Kochi Airport on 13 March 2007 (Heisei 19).

ANA Flight 1603 on the day of the accident

Aircraft used: Bombardier DHC8-Q400

Flight plan: depart Osaka International Airport 8:10, arrive Kochi Airport 8:55

Callsign: ALL NIPPON 1603

Overview of the accident

On 13 March 2007 (Heisei 19), All Nippon Airways (ANA) Flight 1603 departed Osaka International Airport at 8:09 and was operating bound for Kochi Airport. Flight 1603 was the second flight of the day from Osaka to Kochi, and was operated by the subsidiary Air Central (now ANA Wings). The aircraft was a Bombardier DHC8-Q400 turboprop (registration: JA849A, manufactured in 2005). Air Central had been operating the type since 2003, and it was a relatively new aircraft among the fleet in use.

At 8:49, Flight 1603 was about to enter its landing configuration for Kochi Airport, but reported that "the nose gear (front wheel) will not extend". Since the aircraft was designed so that the nose gear could be lowered by manual operation in addition to the normal hydraulic operation, Flight 1603 attempted to lower the nose gear manually, but this also failed; it also repeatedly performed touch-and-goes in an attempt to lower the nose gear through the impact of touchdown, but again without success.

The captain therefore decided on a belly landing as a last resort. Because the accident aircraft was a small aircraft and lacked equipment for jettisoning fuel in an emergency, it circled above the airport for just over 2 hours to burn off fuel before entering its emergency landing configuration for Kochi Airport. At this time, the runway at Kochi Airport was closed, and emergency vehicles such as fire engines stood by beside the runway. Having received word of the trouble, members of the press and police officials gathered beside the airport. In addition, the emergency landing was broadcast live nationwide by many television stations.

Flight 1603 carried out the belly landing at 10:54; after rolling for about 15 seconds with only the main gear (rear wheels) touching the runway and the nose held level or slightly raised, it gently lowered the nose and decelerated while in contact with the runway, and came safely to a stop 15 seconds after the nose touched down, successfully completing the emergency landing. Although sparks were produced when the lower part of the nose touched the ground, no fire broke out, and because the impact on landing was also small, none of the 60 passengers and crew were injured. Damage to the aircraft was kept to a minimum because both main gear were usable, so that there was little effect on lateral balance, and because the propeller blades did not strike the ground and were not damaged. A black scrape mark of about 5 metres from the nose gear bay door remained on the aircraft, and the tip of the communications antenna for contact with the control tower on the underside of the aircraft was damaged, but that was the only damage to the fuselage.

Regarding this accident, the Kochi Shimbun and (then) active pilots praised the captain's high level of skill as evident in his proper emergency landing handling.

As a result of the accident, Kochi Airport was closed for the entire day, and scheduled flights due to land at the airport were forced to divert to Takamatsu Airport and Tokushima Airport.

As a result of this accident, the flight number 1603 was retired, and later the return flight number 1602 was also retired.

Sequence of events

8:47:40 - Kochi Aerodrome Control issues Flight 1603 a landing clearance for runway 32 at Kochi Airport.

8:49:50 - Flight 1603 notifies the control facility to the effect that "the gear cannot be lowered, so we will hold in the air while troubleshooting".

9:14:0 - Flight 1603 asks the maintenance engineers on the ground to check, and at the same time asks the control facility for permission to make a low pass over the runway at.

9:21:0 - First low pass carried out.

9:25 - The captain announces in the cabin: "Because the nose gear will not come down, we are investigating the cause while staying in contact with the ground."

9:35:5 - Second low pass carried out.

9:40 - A response headquarters is set up in the airport manager's office at Kochi Airport.

9:44 - The remaining fuel becomes, and an attempt is made to lower the nose gear manually. 2 chemical fire engines and 1 water tanker stand by at the airport.

9:45 - The government sets up an information liaison office at the Prime Minister's Official Residence.

Around 9:50 - ANA headquarters receives a first report from the Operations Control Center at Haneda Airport: "An aircraft is now attempting to land in a situation where the landing gear (wheels) will not extend."

9:57:58 - Flight 1603 attempts sharp turns in order to lower the nose gear.

10:19:25 - The captain requests of the controller: "We would like to carry out a touch-and-go and check whether the nose gear comes down with the impact (of touchdown)."

Just after 10:20 - Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) and the commercial broadcasters begin live coverage.

10:24 - The controller authorises the touch-and-go.

10:25:23 - A touch-and-go is carried out with only the rear wheels touching the runway, but the nose gear bay door does not operate and the aircraft returns aloft.

10:28 - The captain informs the controller: "We will attempt to land at around 10:52."

10:34:0 - The captain instructs the cabin attendants to move some of the passengers to the rear.

10:35:00 - The airport fire service sprays extinguishing agent on the runway.

10:41 - The captain requests of the controller: "We would like to land in about 5 more minutes."

10:47:14 - Flight 1603 asks the control facility for landing clearance.

10:50 - The captain announces in the cabin: "We have only 10 minutes of fuel left. We will attempt a belly landing. Let me say again that I have had a great deal of training (in preparation for this kind of situation). Please rest assured."

10:52:10 - The control facility notifies the aircraft of the wind direction and wind speed.

10:53 - The captain announces in the cabin: "One minute to landing."

10:54 - Flight 1603 enters its landing configuration with the nose gear still not lowered and touches down on the runway on the rear wheels only. About 15 seconds later the nose touches the ground, and about 15 seconds after that the aircraft comes to a complete stop. Immediately afterwards firefighters, maintenance staff and others begin inspecting the area around the aircraft. Fire engines spray water, concentrating on the front of the aircraft.

11:08 - The passengers begin to disembark and head to buses waiting near the aircraft.

11:40 - ANA holds a press conference at Haneda Airport and apologises: "We deeply apologise for the trouble we have caused."

Around 12:10 - The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism says at a press conference that it is "a case we have never heard of".

12:15 - ANA subsequently holds a press conference at Kochi Airport and apologises.

Accident cause investigation report

On 28 May 2008, the Aircraft and Railway Accidents Investigation Commission of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism published a report stating that the cause of the accident was that, during repairs after the opening/closing mechanism was damaged in pre-delivery testing at Bombardier in Canada, a bolt at the pivot of the opening/closing arm of the nose gear bay door had been left out, and asked Transport Canada to instruct the company to strengthen its quality control system. At a press conference, Bombardier Vice President Todd Young apologised, saying "Once again we deeply apologise for the concern and trouble we caused so many people", and said "Since the accident we have implemented five stages of improvement measures, such as making the repair manual more specific. We are confident in its safety."

Criticism of the accident and continuing problems

The cause of the accident was that a bolt had been left out when repairing damage sustained during pre-delivery inspection carried out at the final stage of manufacture at the manufacturer; however, despite frequent operational problems occurring with the type, operations had continued without even identifying their causes. Among the residents of Kochi Prefecture, anxiety grew that a major accident would occur, and after the accident criticism of All Nippon Airways was voiced by users and travel agency branch managers.

Although there were no injuries, it was the first serious incident involving the type. Problems had also occurred repeatedly in the Japan Airlines group, which had introduced the same type, but they had not led to an accident as in the case of All Nippon Airways.

The DHC8-Q400 that became the accident aircraft had, even before this accident, suffered a succession of malfunctions and oil leaks in the hydraulic system that retracts the main gear, and wiring defects and electronic equipment failures due to design errors had also come to light. Counting only cancellations due to aircraft maintenance and cases of returning after take-off, there were an abnormally high 77 cases from 2005 to 2007 including this accident, and from its entry into service in 2002 up to this accident it had caused a cumulative total of 88 problems. Furthermore, in September 2007, because accidents occurred in succession with the same type at Scandinavian Airlines in which the left main gear broke off on landing and the aircraft made a belly landing, following an emergency inspection order from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, 3 aircraft of Japan Air Commuter whose operating hours exceeded 10,000 hours and 2 aircraft of the All Nippon Airways group that exceeded 9,000 hours were withdrawn from operation. In October of the same year, in response to the Scandinavian Airlines accidents that recurred after September, focused inspections of the areas where that airline had had many defects were carried out on the 24 aircraft of the type owned by Japan Air Commuter and All Nippon Airways.

Previously, with the All Nippon Airways group's DHC8-Q400s, there had been an overrun accident on 21 November 2004 in which a flight operated by Air Nippon Network departed the runway at Kochi Airport and became stuck beside the runway, and a problem on 9 February 2006 in which none of the wheels of ANA Flight 1823 would extend before landing and they were lowered manually. On 20 March of the same year, a problem occurred in which none of the wheels of an Amakusa Airlines DHC8-Q100 would extend at Kumamoto Airport and they were lowered by manual operation.

Incidents continued to occur into 2008; on 12 August an aircraft of the same type (JA848C) belonging to Japan Air Commuter caused a serious incident (falling under "occurrence of engine damage" as prescribed in Article 166-4, item 6 of the Ordinance for Enforcement of the Civil Aeronautics Act) in which its engine was damaged just before take-off from Osaka International Airport, scattering metal fragments on the runway, and problems with the type have not been eradicated.

Scandinavian Airlines, after the successive accidents described above, had another belly landing accident in Norway on 27 October 2007, and as of that day, stating that "we can no longer regain the trust of our customers", it ceased operating the type and retired it from its routes.

An example of Bombardier aircraft being withdrawn from operation because of an accident is the China Eastern Airlines Bombardier CRJ-200 in 2004 (later found to have been caused by improper aircraft management).

Subsequent history of the accident aircraft

The aircraft that had the accident (JA849A) was repaired in May 2007 to the minimum extent needed to fly, and was ferried to Osaka International Airport. There full-scale repair work was carried out, and the front part of the fuselage that had contacted the runway was completely replaced. In September it passed a safety inspection by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and received permission to return to service as a passenger aircraft. However, in response to the successive Scandinavian Airlines accidents, All Nippon Airways voluntarily took the measure of grounding and inspecting aircraft whose flight hours exceeded 9,000 hours, so it did not return to route operations.

On 21 October 2007, stating of JA849A that "it is necessary to reassure people by accumulating flights", All Nippon Airways ferried it from Itami Airport to Shimojishima Airport in Okinawa Prefecture to be used for the time being as a training aircraft for flight crew. In addition, the Air Central crew labour union, in a strike held after the accident, included strengthening of the maintenance system for the type among its demands.

On 19 December 2007, All Nippon Airways, asserting that "there were no abnormalities after more than 100 take-offs and landings" and that there were no safety problems, announced that it would return the aircraft to route operations from the first Osaka (Itami) to Kochi flight on 1 January 2008. However, it withdrew this policy after Kochi Prefecture Governor Masanao Ozaki expressed regret. On 23 June 2008, All Nippon Airways decided to sell JA849A to Bombardier, and placed an additional order for 3 DHC-8-400s including a replacement aircraft, which began operating from 2010 onwards.

JA849A was deregistered with effect from 26 March 2010 and, after becoming the property of Bombardier (registration: C-GDXC), passed through Eznis Airways (from 2012, registration: JU-9919), Nordic Aviation Capital (from November 2014, registration: OY-YAH) and Skyservice Business Aviation (from June 2015, registration: C-GSXA), and since March 2016 has been operated by Aurora (registration: RA-67252).

Similar accidents

Japan Domestic Airlines Obihiro Airport belly landing accident: occurred 29 May 1965

Toa Domestic Airlines Flight 381 belly landing accident: occurred 21 July 1979

JetBlue Airways Flight 292 emergency landing accident: occurred 21 September 2005

Scandinavian Airlines Flight 1209 belly landing accident: 9 September 2007

Scandinavian Airlines Flight 2748 belly landing accident: 12 September 2007

Scandinavian Airlines Flight 2867 belly landing accident: 27 October 2007

Continental Airlines Flight 3407 crash: 12 February 2009