Investigators focus on air traffic communication after a fatal Tokyo runway crash

Investigators focus on air traffic communication after a fatal Tokyo runway crash



TOKYO (AP) — A transcript of communications between traffic control and two planes that collided and burst into flames at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport revealed that only the larger Japan Airlines passenger plane was given permission to use the runway where it was located a Coast Guard aircraft was preparing to take off.

On Tuesday evening, an orange fireball erupted from both planes as JAL Flight 516 flew down the runway covered in flames and emitting gray smoke. Within 20 minutes, all 379 passengers and crew slid down emergency slides and survived. The pilot of the Coast Guard aircraft – a Bombardier Dash-8 – was evacuated injured, but five crew members died.

The Transportation Department released a transcript Wednesday of air traffic control communications of about 4 minutes and 25 seconds immediately before the crash. It emerged that the Coast Guard aircraft had not been given clear permission to take off. According to the text, Tokyo air traffic control granted the JAL Airbus A350 permission to land on runway C and determined that it was a departing aircraft. The JAL pilot repeated the instruction.

The Coast Guard plane said it was taxiing to the same runway and traffic control is directing it to continue to the stop line in front of the runway. The controller determined that the Coast Guard was receiving departure priority and the pilot said he was moving to the holding line.

Your communication in the script ends here. Two minutes later there was a three-second pause, apparently indicating the time of the collision.

Police launched a separate investigation into possible professional negligence. Tokyo police said investigators were examining the debris on the runway and conducting interviews. They said 17 JAL passengers suffered minor injuries.

The JAL plane had flown from Shin Chitose airport near the northern city of Sapporo, and the coast guard Bombardier was preparing to leave for Niigata to deliver aid to the central regions hit by strong earthquakes on Monday in which more than 60 people died.

On Wednesday, six experts from the Japan Transport Safety Board examined the plane’s remains, the board said. On television footage, the wings of the badly damaged A350 could be seen among the charred, broken fuselage parts. The smaller Coast Guard plane resembled a pile of rubble. Lead investigator Takuya Fujiwara said his team seized flight data and voice recorders from Bombardier for analysis.

Investigators plan to interview the pilots, officials and air traffic control officials to determine how the two planes landed on the runway at the same time, JTSB said.

Both sides had different opinions about permission to use the runway.

Tadayuki Tsutsumi, JAL’s managing executive officer, said at a news conference late Tuesday that the A350 was performing a “normal entry and landing” on the runway and that the pilot said he did not recognize the Bombardier. Another JAL manager, Noriyuki Aoki, said the flight had received permission to land.

According to the Transportation Department transcript, air traffic officials cleared the JAL plane to land and told the Coast Guard pilot to wait before entering the runway. But according to an NHK television report, the Coast Guard pilot said he had been cleared to take off. The Coast Guard said officials were investigating that claim.

All passengers and crew abandoned their luggage and slid down emergency slides within 20 minutes of landing as smoke filled the cabin of the burning plane – a result praised by aviation experts. Videos posted by passengers showed people covering their mouths with tissues as they ducked and headed toward the exits. Some passengers told the news media they didn’t feel safe until they reached a grassy area behind the tarmac.

“The entire cabin was filled with smoke within a few minutes. We threw ourselves on the ground. Then the emergency doors were opened and we threw ourselves on them,” 17-year-old Swedish passenger Anton Deibe told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet. “The smoke in the cabin burned like hell.”

Even after the plane was safely evacuated, passengers on the tarmac were gripped with renewed terror as flames engulfed the plane and one of the engines roared to life as if it was about to take off, said William Manzione, who was aboard the plane. The crew shouted at them to run away from the plane.

“There was a feeling it was going to explode soon,” Manzione told Sky News. “That was the most frightening moment for me and the other passengers.”

The fire is likely to be seen as an important test case for carbon composite fiber aircraft fuselages – such as those used on the A350 and Boeing 787 – instead of traditional aluminum skins.

“This is the most catastrophic fire on a composite aircraft that I can imagine. On the other hand, that hull protected (the passengers) from a really terrible fire – it didn’t burn out for a while and let everyone get out,” said safety consultant John Cox.

Haneda’s three other runways reopened late Tuesday, but about 140 flights were canceled on Wednesday alone because of the runway closure, transportation officials said. The airport was crowded on Wednesday as many holidaymakers completed their New Year’s trip, including those who survived the fire and stayed overnight at the airport or in nearby hotels and tried to rebook their flights.

Haneda is the busiest of the two major airports serving the Japanese capital, with many international flights and is preferred by business travelers due to its proximity to central parts of the city.

Tuesday’s accident was the first serious damage to an Airbus A350, one of the industry’s newest large passenger aircraft. It entered commercial service in 2015. Airbus said in a statement that it was sending specialists to assist Japanese and French officials investigating the accident and that the plane was delivered to Japan Airlines in late 2021.

According to its website, JAL operates 16 aircraft of the A350-900 version. The twin-engine, two-aisle A350 is used by a number of long-haul international airlines. According to Airbus, more than 570 of the aircraft are in use.

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Yamaguchi reported from Kyoto, Japan. Associated Press writers Brian Melley in London, Adam Schreck in Osaka, Japan, Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark and David Koenig in Dallas contributed to this report.



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