Page:NTSB Report, Japan Air Lines Flight 813.pdf/5

- 2 - 1.1. History of the Flight

Japan Air Lines (JAL) Flight 813, of December 25, 1965, a Douglas DC-8-33, JA-8006, was a scheduled international passenger flight from the San Francisco, California International Airport to Tokyo, Japan, with an en route stop at Honolulu, Hawaii.

Flight preparations which included filing an Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) flight plan were made in a normal manner and at 1308 P.s.t. in a scattered cloud condition the flight departed Runway 01. Departure was in accordance with a standard instrument departure route. Aboard the aircraft were 10 crew- members and 31 passengers. Four of the latter were non-revenue.

About three minutes after takeoff the flight was proceeding under Climb power at 4,500 feet at an airspeed of 270 knots over the South San Francisco area. At this time the crew felt and heard a muffled explosion and. the air- craft yawed violently left and vibrated noticeably. At the same time all instrument indications for the No. 1 engine became erratic and the crew recognized that a major engine failure had occurred. Emergency procedures for engine failure were immediately executed. and the aircraft Vibration stopped.

The crew later stated that there was no fire warning when the emergency occurred. Because of this and the difficulty in viewing the No. 1 engine from the pilots' compartment they did not know a major fire existed in the No. l engine and wing area until, within 15 or 20 seconds, the purser and one of the non-revenue passengers ran forward and told them. Emergency procedures for