At 09:20:54 on the morning of November 22, 1968, Japan Airlines
Flight 2, a DC-8 named 'Shiga" with 96 passengers and a crew of 11,
was cleared for final approach to San Francisco airport (SFO). As
the weather was a typical Bay Area low, heavy overcast, 15-year
veteran pilot Kohhei Asoh elected an instrument landing. He engaged
his autopilot's Instrument Landing System (ILS), which would allow
SFO's approach locator to control the plane's touchdown.
At 09:24:25, JAL 2 landed - three miles short of the SFO
runways, and a quarter mile offshore of where you are standing. By
a miracle, it was precisely on the shallow Coyote Point Reef. The
DC-8 came to rest with its landing gear in the bottom mud, and the
main door above water. There were no injuries on board, and the
passengers and crew were evacuated using a combination of onboard
rafts, the harbor's skiff, and rescue boats from the Yacht Club.
Most passengers didn't even get their feet wet, according to news
reports at the time.
The NTSB
accident report (PDF) states the pilot had failed to correctly
acquire the SFO locator when engaging the autopilot, which flew the
plane into the water. This was fortunately one of the very few
'water landings' where all of those on board walked away.
The DC-8 itself suffered only minor damage. In two days, it was
hoisted from the water by cranes and barged to United Airlines'
facilities at SFO. Since it had only been in service for four
months, it was decided to repair the aircraft. The four month
project cost $4 million, and included replacing all of the 36 miles
of wiring in the plane, and removing and repairing or replacing all
of the control surfaces, hydraulics, and most of the A/C and
pneumatic systems. The DC-8 rejoined JAL's fleet in March 1969, and
continued in service for the next 14 years. In 1983 it was sold off
by JAL, and then flew passengers for several no-name airlines,
winding up in Nigeria.
But in 1987 Airborne Express purchased the plane and returned it
to US service as a freighter. Amazingly, it continued to fly until
December 2001. The 9/11 attacks indirectly finished off the
venerable DC-8, hull #45954. With plenty of more modern aircraft
sitting unused, there was no support for another refurbishment of
the now 33-year-old plane, and it went to the scrappers. For more
details on both the accident and aircraft, see
here. (Thanks to
stevegt for pointing out this site.) Two further descriptions
are
here and here.
The location is next to the Coyote Point Yacht Club parking lot,
which can be accessed via Coyote Point Park (limited hours). There
is an admission fee during the summer and weekends. Or, you can
park for free at Ryder Park to the south, and walk or bike up the
Bay Trail.
As of 4/18/10, this is now a camo'ed largish micro-cache. We'll
see if it survives the cleanup crews poking around in the
bushes.
(In honor of the Rogue Ramblers.)