On July 30, 1971, at 15:29 PDT, while it was taking off from San Francisco International Airport bound for Tokyo, the aircraft struck approach lighting system structures located past the end of the runway; this initial mishap seriously injured two passengers and caused significant physical damage to both the runway structures and the aircraft.

After coming to a stop, the crew ordered an emergency evacuation, during which 27 passengers were injured exiting the aircraft, eight of whom suffered serious back injuries.

[1][2][3] The accident was investigated by the NTSB, which determined the probable cause was the pilot's use of incorrect takeoff reference speeds.

The NTSB also found various procedural failures in the dissemination and retrieval of flight safety information, which had contributed to the accident.

On July 29, 1971, Dyer, Oakes, Horne, Sagar and Proctor had spent the whole day off-duty and had flown the initial Los Angeles to San Francisco leg of the flight.

After consulting with Pan Am flight dispatchers and the control tower, the crew decided to take off from runway 01R, shorter than 28L, with less favorable wind conditions.

"[9] Unable to attain sufficient altitude to clear obstructions at the end of the runway, the aircraft had its aft fuselage, landing gear, and other structures damaged as it struck components of the approach lighting system (ALS) at over 160 knots (180 mph; 300 km/h).

The flight proceeded out over the Pacific Ocean for 1 hour and 42 minutes to dump fuel to reduce weight for an emergency landing.

[2] It remained with Pan Am until the airline ceased operations in 1991 and was transferred to Aeropostal and then briefly to Kabo Air of Nigeria and back to Aeroposta, and it was finally cut into pieces in 1999 at Norton AFB in San Bernardino, California, where it had been stored since at least 1997.

The parts of the aircraft were shipped to Hopyeong, Namyangju, South Korea, and reassembled to serve as a restaurant for some time until it closed down.

Petitions and campaigns from numerous aviation enthusiasts for museums or local governments then occurred to preserve the historical airplane.

[11][12][13][14][15] In 2017, Airways Magazine made an article claiming that N747PA had only partially been scrapped and that three major pieces of fuselage were saved and moved not far away to the suburb of Wolmuncheon-ro.