We had made arrangements with Tosh to stay at his place and they were incredible hosts. Sharing our experiences with them, he then asked what our plans were around leaving. The reasons for that questions was that the following week in Japan is when everyone goes on vacation All hotels and flights are booked months in advance. He advised us to leave as soon as possible. With that advice, we went to the CPAir ticket office in downtown Osaka. I was astonished that in a male-oriented Japanese business world, there was an independent female in the workplace. She was kind and helpful changed our flight to the next day.
There was the anniversary of Hiroshima coming up as well and Tosh had a voluntary position as an interpreter. It was time to leave Japan.
We took the 747SR shuttle from Osaka to Tokyo and connected with CPAir out of Narita back home to Vancouver.
Late September Tosh made a visit to Vancouver as he was attending a sales meetings. We invited him over for brunch at our home in Deep Cove. We asked about his family and questioned him about his time at Hiroshima.
While attending the anniversary in Hiroshima as an interpreter, he received a call from his mother in Tokyo. One of his daughters became seriously ill and was in a hospital. He returned to Tokyo where he stayed till she was better and rebooked them on a departure a week later. They had a reservation on Flight 123 on August 12, from Hanada to Osaka.
Japan Airlines domestic flight from Hadeda Airport to Osaka International Airport was a one hour flight operated by a Boeing 747SR. On August 12, 1985, 12 minutes after take off, the aircraft suffered an explosive decompression and 30 minutes later crashed into two ridges of Mount Takamagahara 100 km from Tokyo. All 15 crew members and 505 of the 509 passengers on board perished.
The explosive decompression caused by a faulty repair, performed after a tail strike incident, during a landing seven years earlier. Through time small hairline cracks appeared in the doubler plate used which was attached to the rear bulkhead. Cabin pressurisation continued to expand the growing hairline cracks and once connecting to each other, the faulty repair of the bulkhead finally failed; It had been a matter of time. The explosive decompression ripped off a significant portion of the tail and caused the loss of hydraulic controls to the entire plane.
It is the deadliest single-aircraft accident in history. Tosh informed us that his colleague, the lady at the CPAir ticket office had been onboard.
It had been a strange summer.
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