Please I need translation urgently!

[Saiyan]

my friend came running to me asking to translate the following urgently (I have no idea what it is so if it contains something bad please excuse me)

can someone please give the translation as soon as possible please?

ありがっとございます
ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー


あの事故から２３年…
８月１２日、この日は１９８５年８月１２日に起きた
日本航空(nihon koukuu)１２３便墜落事故（tsuiraku ziko）から
２３年目である。
この事故は東京発大阪行きの旅客機(ryokakki)が
群馬県(gunma ken)と長野県(nakano ken)の県境（kenzakai）の
山中に墜落し、乗員乗客(jyouin jyoukyaku)５２４人中５２０が
犠牲(gisei)になった事故である。
これは単独(tandoku)の航空事故(koukuu ziko)では最多(saita)である。
現在の墜落現場(tsuiraku genba)には慰霊碑(ireihi)が建てられ、
毎年８月１２日に遺族が遺族登山（izoku dozan)をしている。

[hatch_jp]

This is my translation.
I'm very sorry but I'm not a native English speaker, I think some sentences might be wrong grammatically. I hope you can uderstand them.

==========================================================
あの事故から２３年…
It's been 23 years since the accident...

８月１２日、この日は１９８５年８月１２日に起きた
Aug. 12th, the accident happned on Aug. 12th, 1985.

日本航空(nihon koukuu)１２３便墜落事故（tsuiraku ziko）から
２３年目である。
It is in the 23rd years after JAL 123 crushed.

この事故は東京発大阪行きの旅客機(ryokakki)が
群馬県(gunma ken)と長野県(nakano ken)の県境（kenzakai）の
山中に墜落し、乗員乗客(jyouin jyoukyaku)５２４人中５２０が
犠牲(gisei)になった事故である。
That was an accident that the passenger plane which was bound for Osaka from Tokyo crushed on the mountain between Gunma Pref. and Nagano Pref., and 520 people were killed among 524 passengers and crews on it.

これは単独(tandoku)の航空事故(koukuu ziko)では最多(saita)である。
This is the biggest single airplane crash.

現在の墜落現場(tsuiraku genba)には慰霊碑(ireihi)が建てられ、
毎年８月１２日に遺族が遺族登山（izoku dozan)をしている。
A monument has been built on the crash site and many victim's families climb the mountain on Aug. 12th every year.

[Saiyan]

ありがっとございます！

but as soon as i told my friend he came up with another translation question. could u plz help with this one also? he's at an advanced level than me and I have access to the net while he doesn't that's the problem!

this time I'll give his exact words.
-------------------------------------------------------
About this 出かけようとした時に，電話があったんです。It's from my textbook.?
I know what 出かけよう means. it means something like "want to go out", right? But I have no idea what とした means here. Is it と+した or simply one word とした and why should it be used here? Can I say 出かけようと思った時に instead? If so, do they have the same meaning?
I will appreciate your help. Thanks a lot.

[hatch_jp]

出かけようとした時に，電話があったんです
→　When I was about to go out, I had a phone call.

be about to ～ ： ～をしようとする

He is about to eat it. ＝　彼はそれを食べようとしている。
I was about to cross the street. ＝ 通りを渡ろうとした。

よう or おう make the verb a volitional form.

ru-verb should be replaced the last ru with you.
着る（kiru） → 着よう（kiyou）
見る（miru） → 見よう（miyou）
起きる（okiru） → 起きよう（okiyou）
降りる（oriru） → 降りよう（oriyou）

u-verb should replaced the last u with ou.
examples;
話す（hanasu） → 話そう（hanasou）
聞く（kuku） → 聞こう（kikou）
待つ（matu） → 待とうmatou
飲む（nomu） → 飲もう（nomou）

[Saiyan]

thanks a lot!

[Javizy]

Interesting. I never knew ～をしようとする had a double meaning. Funnily enough, I've seen the exact same example using 出かけようとした時に, and thought 'when I tried to leave' sounded a bit funny. If Saiyan isn't aware, he might be interested to know the other meaning is 'to try to do', e.g. 何を言おうとしてる? / what are you trying to say?

Is the 'be about to do' version basically the same as the 出掛けるところに, but with a slightly more negative connotation?

[QuackingShoe]

I'm pretty sure they aren't two different meanings, and it's the same thing. とする is like 'do toward/as'. So (stem)ようとする is 'do toward/as the volitional of some verb'. Depending on how you look at it, that could mean you're trying to do something or about to do something (intending to, more accurately) in English. It's the same idea in Japanese, though. "The time I did as leaving volitionally," "What are you doing toward saying?"

Whereas ところ describes some point in time or space. Which is why it can be used equally to pinpoint the time at which someone was doing something so it can be further defined (泣いてるところを見た, I saw you crying), and describe something that just happened because the exact point of it having happened is (したところだ, just did), or something that is about to happen because the exact point of it going to happen (remember that plain form is just as much [or more] future as it is present) is (するところだ, about to do). It's still really doing the same thing... going by the internal logic system of the language.