Japanese cops may charge Jalways crew..

[Shagtastic]

Spotted a story on japantoday.com about a Jalways DC10 which seems to have had an engine crap itself after takeoff, yet the cops in Japan are investigating with the prospect of a day in court for someone.

It seems kids were burnt after picking up hot peices of metal that fell onto a sports ground.

Don't the Japanese cops have anything better to do than hassle flightcrew for something that is purely an unfortunate incident?

[ExSimGuy]

Sounds like Jap lawyers taking a lead from Our Colonial Cousins ;)

[barit1]

There's a lesson in here: Be extra careful when failing your donk in the land of the Rising Sun!

[flynverted]

More on the incident here http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://www.nhk.or.jp/&prev=/search%3Fq%3DNHK%26hl%3Den%26hs%3DXQw%26lr%3D%26client%3Dfir efox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official_s%26sa%3DG

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/flynverted/JALDC10.jpg

[Pax Vobiscum]

The Google translation from the original Japanese is very enlightening:

"Feather of airliner turbine damage
Crotch lining house measure materialization
Marathon tail one hardness player copper medal
The Yomiuri reporter starting pitcher leakage"

Still, it's better than my Japanese!

Back to the serious stuff ...

[5711N0205W]

Dunno, seems straightforward to me ;)

This trouble, 12 day in the afternoon o'clock of 7 around 50 minutes, the DC - 10 type machines of the Fukuoka departure Honolulu going of the JAL ウェイズ, causing abnormality in the engine of the wing immediately after and the left the taking off, being something where the big flame rises, the metal piece of the part large number falling in airport nearby road surface, and the like did the wound whose 2 people are light. It means that the result of search of the police, it climbed the metal piece which is found in approximately 600, about 3 centimeter four side was with the biggest one. On one hand, as for the Japan Air Lines Co., Ltd., on the 13th, you had the special technician attend and used the small-sized camera and when you investigated inside the engine individually, the feather of the metal make which is attached to the axis of rotation which is called the turbine having been broken was found. The Japan Air Lines Co., Ltd. seeing whether it does not mean that this feather fell removes the engine from the wing from 13 day night extending through the 14th, carries to the garage of the Narita airport and furthermore have decided to inspect in detail.

[barit1]

This time in English (http://japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=1&id=346222)

Vaguely reminiscent of the June '87 PanAm A310 at Hamburg. The underside of the aircraft had a bad case of acne.

[Kaptin M]

Any aircraft incident or accident in which a person is injured (or worse) and requires medical attention, immediately becomes a Police matter, with the aircraft being treated like a crime scene, or a motor vehicle accident site.
Several months ago a B737 was on descent into Fukuoka, and encountered CAT. The crew messaged ahead, to say that one of the F.A.'s had injured her back, and would have to step down, thus necessitating a replacement crew.
Somehow, the Police got wind of it, and the aircraft was cordoned off after block in - remember this is AFTER descent, landing, taxi, and engine shutdown.
However, after pax disembarkation, NO-ONE was allowed to "touch any switches" (ie. the scene of the crime was to remain undisturbed) until after the Police could "investigate".

Miraculously the F.A. made a sudden recovery, and was able to crew back to base (where she did subsequently spend some 6 months receiving treatment), thus nullifying the need for further Police investigation, and prosecution of the crew.

[Huck]

It's quietly briefed by the safety folks at our union that, if involved in any accident in a foreign country, quickly board the nearest outbound flight and get out of Dodge....

A friend of mine was involved in bending some metal in Fiji. The chief pilot back in the US instructed him to get his crew and flee to another part of the island; furthermore, don't tell ANYONE where they were, including said chief pilot, for 72 hours.

And then there's the USAir crew that was surrounded by a SWAT team while in the hospital in New York....

[Kaptin M]

There's no reason to "quietly" brief it, if you are flying in Japan.
FACTUALLY speaking, crew members involved in an incident/accident where someone necessitates medical attention (up to 5 days after the event) are going to be held responsible by the Japanese Police, under the present system.

In the past, this has entailed the imprisonment of crew members, until the final hearing cleared them!:ugh:

[barit1]

Ernest K. Gann (just about every aviator's favorite writer) took a real accident (http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19680216-1) in Taiwan and wrote a historical novel "Band Of Brothers" about the investigation that followed. Definitely worth the read.

[relax737]

Ernest K Gann is just about every aviator's favourite writer???? That supposed classic, Fate is the Hunter, is the sort of stuff you hear down at the aero club on Friday afternoon. I read it when I was learning to fly, and thought it was great, then started to read it again 15 years later, and didn't get through the first chapter.

There was a guy in Ansett who I met many years ago and he told me he was the Ernest K Gann of the Australian airlines. Give me a break!! I think he flys for VB now. He certainly had a grip of himself.

[Sunfish]

I read "Fate is the Hunter" twenty years ago and bought a new copy when I started to learn to fly last year as a simple PPL. I still think its a good read. I wonder if the poor guy who went in at Hotham had read it?

P.S. If you have ANY sort of accident, car or aircraft, in Asia, leave immediately if you are physically able. Two passports are handy as well.

[Metro man]

Agree totally with the above but extend it to include any third world country. The saying about the wheels of justice grinding slowly take on a whole new meaning in some parts of the world.

Why spend six months sitting in a third world jail in appalling conditions only to be found innocent, or end up losing everything you own to buy your release from a corrupt system.

An escape plan should always be in the back of your mind.

[Airbubba]

From an ALPA web page cited on another thread:
______________________________________

...In investigations of incidents and accidents on foreign soil, pilots’ rights are whatever the country provides—which may be next to nothing.

"The best advice I can give—based on long experience—is to get out of the country as soon as possible," Johnson declared. "I don’t care what they charge you with and try you for—as long as they do it in absentia."

Worldwide, said Johnson, ALPA knows of 27 cases of criminal prosecution, with varying degrees of punishment. Two more cases are pending: (1) Singapore Airlines Flight 006, which took off on a closed runway at Taipei, and (2) a Falcon 900 operated by Olympia Airways pilots in Greece, which went into severe pitch oscillations after the pilots made trim inputs without turning off the autopilot; government officials in the cabin were killed...

http://www.alpa.org/alpa/DesktopModules/ViewDocument.aspx?DocumentID=401

[Willit Run]

Our company had an engine fire a few weeks ago coming out of Chitose, took both bottles to blow it out, and then they dumped a whole bunch of fuel, came back and landed without incident.
The crew was then put inconfinement(some small room with table and 3 chairs for 10 hours). Each crewmember was then individually debriefed, and put in a hotel for 2 days while the officials sorted out whatever they needed to sort out.
The ensueing 3 engine ferry was not well received, but was finally allowed. The japanese, do some mighty wierd stuff!