The cloud ceiling was 300 feet, with visibility of 3/4 of a mile, and there was little contrast between the sky and the calm waters of the bay. As a result, once the plane descended below the clouds, the mistake was not recognized in time to correct it before hitting the water. Captain Asoh stated that he realized the plane was too low once he spotted the water after the plane broke through the fog at an altitude of with an air speed of . He grabbed the control stick to gain altitude, but the plane had already struck the water. Captain Asoh stated (through a translator) that "the plane was fully automatic" and he couldn't "say what was wrong [to cause the water landing]" because he had been in contact with the control tower during the entire approach and was never informed he had deviated from the flight path. The NTSB review of the incident found that:   The probable cause of this accident was the improper application of the prescribed procedures to execute an automatic-coupled ILS approach. This deviation from the prescribed procedures was, in part, due to a lack of familiarization and infrequent operation of the installed flight director and autopilot system. Asoh, when asked by the NTSB about the landing, reportedly replied, "As you Americans say, I fucked up." In his 1988 book "The Abilene Paradox", author Jerry B. Harvey termed this frank acceptance of blame the "Asoh defense", and the story and term have been taken up by a number of other management theorists. The aircraft was not severely damaged and was recovered 55 hours after the incident at high tide, after several failed earlier attempts to hoist it out of the water. After being sprayed down with of fresh water, it was transported to the airport on a barge. External damage was extremely minor, as it had been noted that the only part of external equipment damaged on the aircraft was the right gear bogie, with one wheel being sheared off when the plane ditched by accident. Further inspections revealed only slight structural damage, with repairs estimated to take less than six months. United Airlines offered for to refurbish and repair the aircraft for JAL, to which Japan Airlines agreed and the aircraft was fixed and refurbished over a period of half a year. The aircraft was returned to JAL on March 31, 1969, and underwent a successful test flight on April 11, 1969 from San Francisco to Honolulu. It was later renamed "Hidaka" and continued in service to JAL until 1983.