Doomed flight that crashed in 1985 spotted landing on online plane tracker 35 YEARS later
EAGLE-EYED aviation fans have spotted a plane on an online fight tracker that tragically crashed 35 years ago, killing 520 on board.
Stunned web users splashed screen grabs of the find across social media last week after finding flight number JL123 approaching a Tokyo airport, just a few days before the anniversary of the deadly incident.
Japan Airlines 123 (JL123) collided into the mountains of Gunma Prefecture in 1985 after taking off from Haneda Airport in Tokyo on a flight to Osaka.
Following the crash, Japan Airlines retired the flight number 123, yet it appeared on the tracking website Flight Radar 24 on August 5.
Shocked onlookers took to Twitter to report the find, which Japan Airlines says was the result of an IT error.
"Um, they’re using Japan Airlines 123 (JL123)… Why??" one shocked user wrote, as reported by Japanese news site .
Screen grabs posted alongside the tweet showed a plane marked JL123 approaching Narita Airport.
Others showed the mysterious aircraft parked at the airport near Tokyo.
The glitch sparked interest online in-part due to its proximity to the crash's August 12 anniversary, as well as Japan's Obon festival.
Also known as the "Holiday of souls", the event is traditionally considered the time when the souls of the dead return to the realm of the living.
This year, Obon takes place from August 13 to 16.
Following the social media hysterics, a Japan Airlines spokesperson confirmed that JL123 did appear on the radar.
Speaking to , they said the number was randomly chosen by an IT technician during routine maintenance, SoraNews24 reports.
The aircraft in question was actually flight JL712, returning to Narita from Singapore.
IT staff arbitrarily relabelled the plane JL123 between 11:56pm and 12:22am, the spokesperson said.
Japan Airlines apologised for the confusion and promised to train staff to avoid certain flight numbers during IT checks in future.
The crash of JL123 killed 520 people, leaving only four survivors. It is the deadliest single-aircraft accident in aviation history.
The Boeing 747SR aircraft was hit by a sudden decompression that crippled the plane's tail 12 minutes into the flight.
Japan's Aircraft Accident Investigation Commission officially concluded that the decompression was caused by a faulty repair by Boeing technicians in 1978 that went unnoticed for seven years.
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