Summary of Aircraft Accidents and Serious Incidents, and Measures

A summary of past safety troubles and measures

Fatal or serious injury of an person as a result of the operation of an aircraft, or an aircraft crash, collision or fire, as classified by the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT).

On April 29, 2014, JAL1252(Yamagata Airport to Haneda Airport, operated by J-AIR) encountered sudden turbulence during descent on landing at Haneda Airport, so that cabin attendant fell and sustained bone infracture of her right hip.
None of the passengers was injured.

Investigations were conducted by the Japan Transport Safety Board, and results were announced on May 28, 2015. According to their report, it is probable that this accident was caused by the shaking of the Aircraft which encountered the strong wake turbulence from the Preceding Aircraft while the Aircraft was descending; accordingly, two cabin attendants in the aft galley fell down and one of them was seriously injured.
It is probable that the strong wake turbulence that the Aircraft encountered persisted longer than usual because of the stable weather condition with calm wind.

J-AIR (operating carrier) disseminated a summary of the incident to all flight crew and cautioned them of the possibility of encountering wake turbulence of the aircraft flying in front even in good weather conditions.

On September 12, 2014, JAL93(Tokyo (Haneda) International Airport to Gimpo International Airport) encountered sudden turbulence during descent on landing at Gimpo International Airport. Seven cabin attendants, who were preparing for landing, were injured, including one cabin attendant who was later diagnosed with serious injury (cervical sprain, spinal sprain, etc.). Three passengers reported of physical problems.

Investigations were conducted by the Japan Transport Safety Board, and results were announced on May 28, 2015. According to their report, the probable cause of the accident is that the aircraft was strongly shaken because it encountered turbulence when flying at around 16,000 ft, causing cabin crewmembers thrown into the air to hit the ceiling, and one of them fell onto the floor on her back to sustain a severe injury.
It is highly probable that the turbulence the aircraft encountered was caused by the redeveloped convective clouds after once shrinking. It is probable that the pilots were unable to capture the echoes of the convective clouds in their early developing stages which existed in its flight direction (forward and downward of the aircraft) due to having set the antenna tilt angle of the aircraft weather radar to auto mode.

JAL notified their flight crewmembers of the features and the limitations of the airborne weather radar, and also notified them that with these in mind, they should pay attention to the timing of illuminating the seatbelt signs.

An incident involving circumstances indicating that there was a high probability of an accident, such as overrunning, emergency evacuation, fire or smoke inside the cabin and abnormal depressurization, encountering abnormal weather conditions, etc, as classified by the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT).