Japan Airlines Flight 446 - Public Reaction

Public Reaction

The accident was attributed to pilot error, i.e. the co-pilot's lack of adequate attitude. The voice recorder recorded some of the captain's insensitive colloquial conversation, such as "Yeah(はいよ)" "Kay, Here we goin(やっこらさ)"note. After reports containing the information above was released to the public, Japan Airlines drew much criticism, such as "our floppy flag carrier" from public media, and the problem was even presented before the Diet of Japan.

Apart from this accident, Japan Airlines suffered several other incidents attributed to human error in the same year: Haneda Airport overrun incident (on May 15), New Delhi crash (on June 14), Gimpo Airport overrun incident (on September 7), Bombay Airport overrun incident (on September 24). As a result, the airline suffered harsh criticism from the public.

In the popular comic strip Sazae-san, Machiko Hasegawa made a sarcastic scene, referring to these accidents:

While preparing for a business trip, Namihei panicked when he heard Sazae and Wakame talking about "Nikkō ´falling´ again", and rushed toward them.
But it turned out that the two was just watching the sunset. Relaxed, Namihei shouted "Please say ´Nikkō is descending´ !"

(Nikkō is an abbreviation for "Nihon Kōkū"(Japan Airlines in Japanese). Nikkō is also the Japanese term for "sunlight". In Japanese, "the sunlight is falling" means "the sun is setting").