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The story
Regarding the Boeing repair error that caused the 1985 Japan Airlines crash, Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) has signaled plans to disclose the background of how the mistake occurred. This would mark the first time the Japanese government has clarified the circumstances behind the error, and on 5ch, comments poured in questioning whether the repair mistake was really the cause of the crash, alongside calls for the full release of the voice recorder.
Regarding the repair error by U.S.-based Boeing that caused the Japan Airlines crash (August 1985), Transport Minister Yasushi Kaneko stated at a post-cabinet meeting press conference on the 25th that MLIT intends to disclose the “background circumstances behind the mistake,” which the ministry has been investigating through interviews with Boeing and others.
Kaneko stated clearly, “We are currently reviewing the results obtained and confirming them ahead of disclosure. Once preparations are complete, we intend to release the findings.” If realized, this would be the first time the Japanese government has investigated and disclosed the background of the repair error.
In this accident, investigations at the time determined that the repair error was the cause, but since interviews with Boeing could not be conducted, the background — why the mistake occurred — remained unknown for many years. However, in August last year, media reports revealed that Boeing had referenced the background of the repair error on its own company website. MLIT’s Civil Aviation Bureau then began interviewing Boeing and the FAA (U.S. Federal Aviation Administration) to confirm the facts.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
PM Takaichi: 'We'll buy 100 Boeing jets'
Boeing's in terrible shape right now, better not buy from them.
It was friendly fire from the JSDF (Japan Self-Defense Forces).
What kind of dumb info is that?
One theory was: 'Maybe it's because the people involved at the time have since passed away.'
Apparently there are things from Boeing's internal investigation that were never made public.
Re: #102
There's a theory that since the statute of limitations for professional negligence resulting in death doesn't run out, they couldn't disclose it until after everyone involved had died.
The Nikkei average is going to 3,000 yen!
Far from being blacklisted, he was an in-demand media personality right up until he died.
Right. The correct read is: 'If releasing it would be truly disastrous, it gets suppressed' lol
It's not normally released to begin with, though?
If there's nothing to hide, it should come out. The voice recorder belongs to the aircraft's owner in the first place.
That's exactly why JAL is refusing full disclosure, hiding behind international agreements. Unless ICAO's international rules change, JAL will never release it — they'll always use the rules as a shield. All we can do now is hope for an anonymous leak.
Since there's a treaty in place, even though it's technically theirs, they still can't release it.
That's pretty far-fetched, and the flight recorder doesn't seem to show that kind of impact anyway.
If it was the JSDF, why did they drag it out instead of shooting it down immediately? And why shoot it down in the first place? If it was a missile, why weren't proximity-fuze fragments scattered inside the cabin? Way too many mysteries.
Also, thinking about the evidence, it'd make more sense to finish the job over open water lol
If that were the case, wouldn't we be seeing a lot more pressure-bulkhead blowout incidents?
Ranking of likely causes: vertical stabilizer structural defect > APU failure the day before > US military > JSDF
cabin pressurization stayed almost normal the whole time.
So what do you think the cause was?
'A projectile struck the vertical stabilizer from the side, slightly from the rear' explains everything without contradiction. That's written in the accident investigation board's analysis documents that were released later.
I don't know about those documents, but the damage pattern goes from inside the fuselage outward. If it were a missile, it couldn't have hit only the tail — an infrared-guided one would've hit the engine instead. And the orange fragments have been identified as just the red of the Hinomaru (Japanese flag roundel) worn off.
Huh? You can't prove it came from the side — no left-right shock was recorded.
Seriously though, it actually amplifies signals and backfires.
But purified aluminum foil? That'll totally work lol
Background and Key Points
The August 1985 crash referenced here is Japan Airlines Flight 123, a Boeing 747SR that struck Mount Osutaka in Gunma Prefecture, killing 520 of the 524 aboard — still the deadliest single-aircraft accident in aviation history. Japan’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Commission concluded that a botched 1978 tailstrike repair, carried out by Boeing technicians, caused the aft pressure bulkhead to fail in flight, severing hydraulic lines and the vertical stabilizer. Because Boeing is a U.S. company, Japanese investigators at the time had no authority to compel interviews with the technicians involved, leaving the human and procedural “why” behind the error undocumented in any Japanese government record for nearly four decades — which is the gap MLIT is now trying to close.
The thread’s real fault line isn’t over whether MLIT should release its findings, but over whether the repair-error explanation is even true. Posters split between accepting the official bulkhead-failure account and floating alternative theories (military strike, JSDF involvement, undisclosed design defects), each contesting specific physical evidence — recorder data, fragment coloration, damage direction — rather than the disclosure news itself.
What the thread misses is that flight recorder data from JAL123 has, in fact, already been analyzed and partly published by the investigation commission; the “voice recorder” posters demand full disclosure of remains legally in JAL’s custody but has never been fully released to the public, a practice distinct from any binding international treaty obligation. Readers should also know that Boeing’s own website reportedly already carried an account of the repair background — this MLIT effort is about official Japanese government confirmation, not new information.
*This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Breaking News Plus) thread “JAL Crash: Ministry to Disclose Cause of Repair Error — MLIT Spent a Year Interviewing Boeing“.
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