Japan Airlines Flight 350

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**Japan Airlines Flight 350**
Summary
Date	February 9, 1982
Type	Deliberate crash
Site	Tokyo, Japan
Passengers	166
Crew	8
Fatalities	24
Survivors	150
Aircraft type	McDonnell Douglas DC-8-61^[1]
Operator	Japan Airlines
Tail number	JA8061
Flight origin	Fukuoka Airport
Destination	Tokyo International Airport (Haneda)

Japan Airlines Flight 350 was a McDonnell Douglas DC-8-61, aircraft registration JA8061, on a domestic scheduled passenger flight from Fukuoka, Japan, to Tokyo. The airplane crashed 9 February 1982 on approach to Tokyo Haneda Airport in Tokyo Bay. Flight 350 was Japan Airlines' first crash of the 1980s.^[2]

The cause of the crash was traced to Captain Seiji Katagiri's (片桐清二Katagiri Seiji) reversal of the DC-8's inboard engines, engines 2 & 3, in flight, in order to destroy the aircraft. The First Officer and Flight Engineer worked to restrain him and regain control. Despite their best efforts, the DC-8's descent could not be completely checked, and it touched down in shallow water 300 meters (984 feet) short of the runway.

Among the 166 passengers and 8 crew, 24 passengers were killed, with no losses among the crew. The captain was later found to be mentally ill, and had suffered from a psychosomatic illness prior to the incident, which resulted in not guilty by reason of insanity. Following the accident, Katagiri, one of the first people to take a rescue boat, reportedly claimed to rescuers that he was an office worker to avoid detection.^[3]