What happened
On 5 March, a scheduled BOAC flight traveling from Tokyo to Hong Kong experienced a catastrophic mid-air breakup shortly after takeoff. The aircraft, a Boeing 707, had originally been diverted to Fukuoka the previous evening due to bad weather and non-functional precision approach radar at Tokyo Airport. After an overnight stay, the flight departed Tokyo at 13:58 under instrument flight rules.
Shortly after leaving the airport, the crew requested clearance for a visual climb via specific waypoints. While flying over Gotemba City at an altitude of roughly 4,900 meters and speeds between 320 and 370 knots, the aircraft began to lose altitude while passing over the Takigahara area. As the plane continued its descent, structural failure occurred, with various components detaching over Tsuchiyadai and Ichirimatsu.
At an altitude of approximately 2,000 meters near Tarobo, the forward section of the fuselage separated from the rest of the aircraft. The remaining mid-to-aft fuselage and wing assembly entered a slow, right-hand flat spin before impacting a forest at the base of Mount Fuji. The detached forward section crashed approximately 300 meters west of the main wreckage site and ignited. There were 124 fatalities and no survivors.
Findings
Investigations determined that the aircraft was subjected to extreme turbulence while passing over Gotemba City. This sudden atmospheric disturbance created gust loads that significantly exceeded the structural design limits of the airframe, leading to the immediate disintegration of the aircraft.