Japan Air Lines Flight 792

The aircraft involved in the incident was a Douglas DC-8-61 manufactured in 1971, carrying the registration JA8048. The aircraft had undergone an overhaul in June 1982, and had received maintenance just 13 days before the incident. The captain of Flight 792 was a 57-year-old male with 14,862 hours of experience. The copilot was a 34-year-old male and the flight engineer was a 28-year-old male. 104 of the 113 passengers were Japanese, and among them were tourists who were on a tour organized by the Nicchuryokosha. == Incident ==

Flight 792 was a regularly scheduled passenger flight from Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport and New Tokyo International Airport. but rather that the plane would be returning to the airport due to a minor issue. At 2:30PM, Flight 792 landed on Runway 36 at . The cabin attendants were already starting to evacuate the passengers before there was an official order from the cockpit. == Investigation ==

The Civil Aviation Administration of China and the Aircraft and Railway Accidents Investigation Commission of the Japanese Ministry of Transport launched an investigation in to the accident. The investigation committee arrived at the scene on the following day of the accident, but no investigation was conducted as everyone, including those from the Chinese side, were not allowed to be near the accident scene due to fears of fire caused by leaking oil. Proper investigation was only able to start two days after the accident, and it was on that day that the aircraft's flight recorder and voice recorder was retrieved. In the early stage of the investigation, it was thought that the hydraulics itself suddenly failed, causing the accident. The copilot testified that, despite the reserve accumulator was showing normal readings, the brakes did not work. On December 6, the investigation committee announced that the cause of the accident was the air bottle for the emergency brakes, which were made out of 41xx steel, became corroded, and ruptured after a crack had formed. There were six cracks present, and the largest crack (1.9 mm in size) developed at a spot that was only 2.3 mm thick. The cause of the crack was theorized to be faulty production. The final investigation report stated that, had an X-ray inspection had been done on the aircraft, the corroded air bottle would have been noticed, but the maintenance manual for the aircraft did not make any mentions concerning X-ray inspections. On the other hand, the report did not touch on the mistakes the pilot made, making it inconclusive as to whether there were any elements of pilot error in this incident. == Aftermath ==

At the time, Japan Air Lines was involved in a string of major incidents, and Flight 792 was the fourth incident within the previous seven months, the most notable being Flight 350. Later, on the 21st, the Ministry of Transport conducted an on-site inspection against the airline, and ordered the airline to conduct X-ray inspections to its fleet. Japan Air Lines conducted inspections on 24 aircraft, some of which were of its subsidiary's fleet, Japan Asia Airways, and reported on the 30th that no issues that could lead to an accident were found. In response to this accident as well as those of Flight 350 and Southwest Air Lines Flight 611, the Aircraft and Railway Accidents Investigation Commission conducted a meeting on January 24, 1983 to discuss the procedures of evacuation and rescue of passengers in an emergency. The meeting discussed what passengers need to know and follow during the event of an emergency. As of 2023, Flight 792 is no longer used by Japan Airlines on the Shanghai route, but instead on a flight between Osaka-Kansai and Honolulu. == References ==