Search By Flair

January 13, 1977, early morning. Three people arrived by taxi at the airport Anchorage, Alaska. They were the crew members of Douglas DC-8-62F, cargo plane of Japan Air Lines (JAL). The captain was an experienced 53-year–old American Hugh Marsh, the flight engineer and the first officer were young Japanese.

Douglas DC-8 JAL Cargo.

The captain’s condition caused concern to the taxi driver: a glassy stare, a red face, uncoordinated movements and slurred speech were an evidence of alcohol intoxication. When disembarking from the taxi, the pilot almost fell down handing on the car door. The driver reported the pilot's strange behavior to his dispatcher, and he passed the information to an airport agent. He promised that if the intoxication was confirmed, they would take action. But during the pre-flight preparation, no one noticed anything suspicious in the captain’s behavior.

The crew had to fly to Tokyo with a cargo consisting of cattle and two accompanying it workers. Earlier, this DC-8 departed from Moses Lake (USA) and landed in Anchorage around five o’clock in the morning for a crew change and refueling. Captain Hugh Marsh takeover the plane without remarks. During the inspection of the engines, ice was found on their elements, so the crew turned on the anti-icing system.

After all the preparation and checks, according to the instruction of a air traffic controller the aircraft began moving towards runway 24L. However, the captain missed the taxi route and directed the plane to runway 24R. Then he reported being ready for takeoff. Only after the controller’s remark he realized the mistake and taxied to the left runway. After receiving permission to take off, the plane started the take-off roll.

Everything went smoothly at first. However, after the rotation from the runway, an unusual noise appeared in the cockpit. It was caused by a strong vibration of the aircraft before going into stall. The airspeed reached 303 km/h, after which it began to fall. The plane climbed to 48 meters height and, entering the left bank, began to rapidly lose altitude. After hitting the ground, the plane skidded along, crossed an access road, crashed into a hill and completely collapsed. All 5 people on board were killed.

The crash site

During the investigation, it was found that icing could have been one of the causes of the disaster. The ice formed on the wings during the previous landing and parking noticeably worsened the airplane’s aerodynamic characteristics that reduced lift.

However, even in this case, the disaster could have been avoided in case of current captain’s actions. During takeoff, he began to raise the nose of the plane too steeply. Together with icing, this led to a disruption of the air flow. When there was stickshaking, captain was unable to recognize the stall and take the necessary actions.

A medical examination helped to clarify the reasons of that crash. A blood test of the captain showed that the alcohol content in him reached 298 mg/100 ml. Later tests established a lower value — 210 mg/100 ml. At the same time, according to the laws of the state of Alaska, the car driver was considered drunk if the blood alcohol content exceeded 100 mg/100 ml (~ 1 ppm). Thus, the suspicion of the taxi driver was confirmed: the captain was drunk and he could not physically and judiciously perform that flight.

A concomitant factor of the disaster was the inaction of the rest of the crew. Young first officer and flight engineer did not object to the captain, despite the fact that he was in an inadequate condition and poorly aware of his actions. After all, he was older than them and had much more experience. Thus, reverence for age and high authority played a fatal role and led to tragedy.