A Douglas DC-8 used by Japan Airlines, similar to the aircraft involved |
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| Accident summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | 24 September 1972 |
| Site | Bombay, India |
| Passengers | 108 |
| Crew | 14 |
| Injuries | 11 |
| Fatalities | 0 |
| Survivors | 122 (all) |
| Aircraft type | Douglas DC-8-53 |
| Operator | Japan Airlines |
| Tail number | JA8013 |
| Flight origin | London |
| Stopover | Frankfurt |
| 1st stopover | Rome |
| 2nd stopover | Beirut |
| 3rd stopover | Tehran |
| 4th stopover | Bombay |
| Destination | Tokyo |
Japan Airlines Flight 472 was a flight from London to Tokyo via Frankfurt, Rome, Beirut, Tehran, Bombay, Bangkok and Hong Kong. On September 24, 1972, the flight landed at Juhu Aerodrome near Bombay, India instead of the city's much larger Santacruz Airport (now Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport) and overran the runway, resulting in the aircraft being written off.
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The aircraft involved was a Douglas DC-8-53, registration JA8013. The aircraft was c/n 45681. It had first flown in 1964.[1]
The flight departed London 20 minutes late. By the time it left Tehran for Bombay, it is already 80 minutes (one hour and 20 minutes) behind schedule.
In the morning of Sep 24, 1972, the flight planned to execute an ILS approach to Santacruz Airport, Bombay. However, the ATC asked the crew, "Can you see the runway?", to which they replied, "Yes, we can". Since the weather was good around the airport that day, the ATC instructed "VFR approach please".
After this, Flight 472 flew past Runway 09 (on the west side) of Santacruz Airport while descending, and executed a 360 degree turn, in order to land from the west side, that is, the side where the Arabian sea lies. However, when it did land at 06:50 local time (01:20 UTC), instead of landing at Santacruz, it was in fact landing on Runway 08 of Juhu Aerodrome, which is 3.7 km west of Santacruz, and for use by small aircraft only.[1] Runway 08 of Juhu was only 1,143 metres (3,750 ft) long, making it impossible for a large aircraft like JL472 to land on.
After deploying the thrust reversers, the captain of Flight 472 realized the mistake, and immediately deployed the spoilers and applied the brakes to the maximum extent possible, but an overrun was inevitable. The DC-8 overshot the runway, breaking off both engines on the port wing, and damaging the front and main landing gears, resulting in the nose of the aircraft to plunge into the ground. The wreckage caught fire, but was soon put out by fire extinguishers.
At the time of the accident, there were 14 crew and 108 passengers on board. 2 cockpit crew and 9 passengers (all foreigners) were injured, and the aircraft was damaged beyond economic repair.[1]
The accident itself was nothing more than pilot error, mistaking the airports. However, the Indian authorities were also blamed for building an airport for small aircraft so close to Santacruz, causing confusion (see similar incidents below), even though it had been built before India's independence, in the colonial era. Another factor is during the 360-degree turn while facing the sun, the cockpit crew of Flight 472 lost sight of the runway due to the morning mist around the surface reflecting sunlight. So, when they suddenly saw the runway of Juhu Aerodrome, they mistook it for the runway of Santacruz, and landed on it.
There have been many instances of aircraft being landed at airports other than the intended destination. In the majority of cases the aircraft is not damaged and was returned to service.
On July 15, 1953, a BOAC DH.106 Comet also landed at Juhu Aerodrome instead of Santacruz Airport. The aircraft was flown out some nine days later.[2]
On 28 May 1968, the pilot of a Garuda Indonesia Convair 990 had also mistaken the same Juhu Aerodrome for Santacruz Airport and tried to land his aircraft. It overshot the runway falling just short of the traffic road ahead and several residential buildings when its nose wheel got stuck in a ditch at the end of the runway. All passengers survived.
Only four months after the Japan Airlines Flight 472 incident, another similar incident happened when an Ilyushin Il-18 (turboprop airliner) of Interflug, an airline of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), landed on the wrong airport and stopped in immediate front of a parked Japan Airlines aircraft, narrowly escaped a collision.
On March 29, 2006, an Airbus A320 being operated by Eirjet on behalf of Ryanair landed at Ballykelly Airfield instead of its intended destination of City of Derry Airport.[3]