The cause of this accident lay seven years previously, when a Japan Airlines Boeing 747 landed and scraped its tail on the runway. The damage is incorrectly repaired and the aircraft returns to service. On the day of the crash the aircraft is operating as Flight 123 when the poorly-repaired rear pressure bulkhead bursts, destroying the vertical fin and rupturing all four hydraulic systems. The pilots manage to keep the aircraft flying for 32 minutes until it clips a mountain ridge. It then spins uncontrollably and impacts Mt. Osutaka. Of the 524 passengers onboard, many survive the crash but die during the night; only four survive to be rescued the next day. This is the largest ever death toll for a single-aircraft disaster.

The cause of this accident lay seven years previously, when a Japan Airlines Boeing 747 landed and scraped its tail on the runway. The damage is incorrectly repaired and the aircraft returns to service. On the day of the crash the aircraft is operating as Flight 123 when the poorly-repaired rear pressure bulkhead bursts, destroying the vertical fin and rupturing all four hydraulic systems. The pilots manage to keep the aircraft flying for 32 minutes until it clips a mountain ridge. It then spins uncontrollably and impacts Mt. Osutaka. Of the 524 passengers onboard, many survive the crash but die during the night; only four survive to be rescued the next day. This is the largest ever death toll for a single-aircraft disaster.