Nihon Kinkyori Airways Nakashibetsu Airport accident

The Nihon Kinkyori Airways Nakashibetsu Airport accident (Nihon Kinkyori Kōkū-ki Nakashibetsu Kūkō jiko) is a crash (aviation accident) of the Japanese domestically produced airliner YS-11 that occurred on 11 March 1983 (Showa 58).

Overview of the accident

At 16:17 on 11 March 1983 (Showa 58), Nihon Kinkyori Airways (a subsidiary of All Nippon Airways) Flight 497, a YS-11 (registration JA8693, manufactured in 1968) from Sapporo Okadama Airport, failed to land at Nakashibetsu Airport and crashed into wild land about 200 metres short of the airport runway on the north side. Of the 52 passengers and crew, a total of 4 people, the captain and 3 passengers, were seriously injured, and 48 were slightly injured.

The weather at the time of the accident was light snow with visibility of about 4 kilometres, a southerly wind with wind speed of 10 metres, a cloud height of about 120 metres, and a low temperature of 1 degree Celsius, and 30 to 50 centimetres of snow had accumulated at the crash site.

The aircraft entered its first landing approach at around 16:12 but failed the approach; it climbed once, and after a right turn, as it entered its second landing approach at around 16:16, it plunged into a thicket 200 metres short of the runway, mowing down the tops of standing trees 3 metres high over about 100 metres; on crashing it rotated 180 degrees to face nose north, and the fuselage broke cleanly in two near the main wing in the centre section and came to rest in the shape of a "く".

Fortunately there was no fire, so the passengers and crew escaped through the gap in the broken fuselage.

Cause of the accident

On 18 October 1984 (Showa 59), the Aircraft Accident Investigation Commission of the Ministry of Transport compiled and published its final report stating that the cause of the accident was pilot error by the captain.

The report pointed out that there were no failures in the accident aircraft's propellers or engines,

the accident aircraft attempted to approach at the prescribed altitude in bad weather

the timing of increasing engine power before landing was also late

The captain and the first officer were referred to the Kushiro District Public Prosecutors Office on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in injury and other charges, but were not indicted (prosecution suspended).