Japan Air System Tokunoshima Airport landing accident

The Japan Air System Tokunoshima Airport landing accident (Nihon Ea Shisutemu-ki Tokunoshima Kūkō chakuriku shippai jiko) is an aviation accident that occurred on 1 January 2004 (Heisei 16).

Japan Air System Flight 979 (McDonnell Douglas MD-81), from Kagoshima Airport to Tokunoshima Airport, suffered damage to its left main gear on landing at Tokunoshima Airport and its left wing contacted the runway. 3 of the 169 passengers and crew were injured.

Accident aircraft

The accident aircraft, a McDonnell Douglas MD-81, made its first flight in 1990. It was delivered to Japan Air System in August of the same year and registered as JA8297. Its total flight time at the time of the accident was 26,050 hours, and it had undergone a periodic inspection (C check) on 8 October 2002.

After the accident, in 2004 the accident aircraft passed to Japan Airlines as a result of the business integration, and in 2009 it was sold to LASER Airlines of Venezuela, and as of 2019 it is still in operation.

Sequence of the accident

Flight 979 took off from Kagoshima Airport at 15:36, climbed to its cruising altitude of 26,000 ft and levelled off.

At 16:17:51, the captain sighted runway 01 at Tokunoshima Airport and continued the approach to runway 01 under visual flight rules. Engine power began to be reduced at 60 ft and was set to idle at 9 ft. At 16:23:47, Flight 979 touched down on the runway at a speed of 133 kn in a slightly nose-up attitude. 1 second later, with a sound of impact, the landing gear warning activated. The aircraft tilted to the left, and the pilots tried to recover the attitude with the rudder. The aircraft stopped at a point 1,750m from the runway end, the pilots reported the accident to the controller, and the runway was closed.

Accident investigation

The Aircraft and Railway Accidents Investigation Commission (ARAIC) carried out the accident investigation. In addition to 3 ARAIC investigators, investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) also took part in the investigation. On 27 May 2005, the ARAIC issued a progress report.

Cause of the accident

It was concluded that when the accident aircraft landed at Tokunoshima Airport, the cylinder of the left main gear, in which a fatigue crack had developed, fractured and the aircraft tilted to the left, so that the left wing contacted the runway surface and the aircraft was damaged. The ARAIC also cited the manufacturer's inadequate setting of inspection intervals as the reason the crack was missed.