Transport officials and police have launched separate investigations at Tokyo's Haneda Airport after a large passenger plane and a Japanese coast guard aircraft collided on the runway and burst into flames, killing five people.
The accident occurred when Japan Airlines flight JAL-516 plane landed on one of Haneda's four runways after the coast guard aircraft — a Bombardier Dash-8 — had also entered, preparing to take off. Both sides said they received a go-ahead from aviation officials.
An orange fireball erupted from the aircraft, and the JAL plane continued down the runway covered in flames while spewing gray smoke. Within 20 minutes, all 379 passengers and crew members slid down emergency chutes and survived. The pilot of the coast guard plane, which exploded, evacuated with injuries but five crew members aboard the coast guard plane were killed.
The burnt remains of the Japan Airlines' Airbus A350 plane at Haneda International Airport in Tokyo. – Reuters
Transport safety officials were focusing on communication between air traffic control officials and the two aircraft to determine what led to the collision.
Police began a separate probe into possible professional negligence. Tokyo police said investigators examined the debris on the runway and were preparing to interview the involved parties.
The Japan Airlines A350 had flown from Shin Chitose airport near the northern Japanese city of Sapporo, and the coast guard Bombardier was preparing to depart for Niigata to deliver relief supplies to residents in the central Japan regions hit by powerful earthquakes on Monday that killed more than 60 people.
On Wednesday, six experts from the Japan Transport Safety Board examined what remained of the aircraft, the board said. TV footage showed the severely damaged A350's wings among the charred, broken parts of fuselages. The smaller coast guard plane looked like a mound of rubble.
Transport safety investigators plan to interview the pilots and officials from both sides, as well as air traffic control officials to find out how the two planes simultaneously ended up on the runway, JTSB said.
The two sides had different understandings of their permission to use the runway.
Eyewitness footage shows passengers shouting inside the smoke-filled plane. –Video obtained by Reuters
JAL managing executive officer Tadayuki Tsutsumi told a news conference that the A350 was making a "normal entry and landing" on the runway. Another JAL executive, Noriyuki Aoki, said the flight had received permission to land from aviation officials.
The air traffic officials gave the JAL airliner landing permission, while telling the coast guard pilot to wait before entering the runway, NHK television reported Wednesday. But the coast guard pilot said he also had been given permission to take off. The coast guard said officials were verifying that claim.
All passengers and crew members left their baggage and slid down the escape chutes within 20 minutes of the landing as smoke filled the cabin of the burning aircraft — an outcome praised by aviation experts. Videos posted by passengers showed people covering their mouths with handkerchiefs as they ducked down and moved toward the exits. Some passengers told news media they felt safe only after reaching a grassy area beyond the tarmac.
"The entire cabin filled with smoke within a few minutes. We threw ourselves down on the floor. Then the emergency doors were opened and we threw ourselves at them," Swedish passenger Anton Deibe, 17, said. "The smoke in the cabin stung."
The fire is likely to be seen as a key test case for airplane fuselages made from carbon-composite fibers — featured on the A350 and the Boeing 787 — instead of conventional aluminum skins.
The Japan Airlines plane on fire on the runway of Haneda airport. – AP
"This is the most catastrophic composite-airplane fire that I can think of. On the other hand, that fuselage protected (passengers) from a really horrific fire — it did not burn through for some period of time and let everybody get out," safety consultant John Cox said.
Haneda's three other runways reopened late Tuesday, but some 100 flights have been canceled due to the closure of the accident-hit runway. The airport was packed Wednesday as many holidaymakers wrapped up their New Year travel, including those who who survived the fire and spent the night at the airport or at nearby hotels, trying to change their flights.
Haneda is the busier of the two major airports serving the Japanese capital, with many international flights, and is favored by business travelers due to its proximity to central parts of the city.
Tuesday's accident was the first severe damage to an Airbus A350, among the industry's newest large passenger planes. It entered commercial service in 2015. Airbus said in a statement it was sending specialists to help Japanese and French officials investigating the accident, and that the plane was delivered to Japan Airlines in late 2021.
JAL operates 16 of the A350-900 version aircraft, according to its website. The twin-engine, twin-aisle A350 is used by a number of long-haul international carriers. More than 570 of the aircraft are in operation, according to Airbus.
The Japan Airlines plane on fire on the runway of Haneda airport. – AP
Delivering aid
The Coast Guard said its plane was headed to Niigata on Japan’s west coast to deliver aid to those caught up in a powerful earthquake that struck on New Year’s Day, killing at least 55 people.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said authorities were working to ensure the accident did not affect deliveries of earthquake relief supplies, and expressed sorrow over the deaths of the Coast Guard crew.
“This is a great regret as the crew members performed their duties with a strong sense of mission and responsibility for the victims of the disaster area,” he said.
A JAL official told a press briefing it was the airline’s understanding that the flight had received permission to land, although he added that exchanges with flight control were still under investigation.
The collision happened almost instantly after touching down at 5:46pm, the airline said.
As the passenger jet skidded to a stop, the captain of the Coast Guard plane, 39-year-old Genki Miyamoto, pulled himself from the wreckage and radioed his base.
"The aircraft exploded on the runway. I escaped. The (condition of the) other crew members is unknown," he said, according to the Coast Guard.
The other five crew, aged between 27 and 56, died.
Firefighters work at Haneda International Airport after Japan Airlines' A350 airplane caught on fire. – Reuters
'It was a miracle'
The cabin of the passenger jet began quickly filling with smoke while some anxious passengers ran up and down the aisles and others clung to shrieking children.
"Please get me out of here," one woman shouted in a video shared with Reuters from inside the plane. "Why don't you just open (the doors)," a child screamed.
"I really thought I was going to die," said Tokyo resident Tsubasa Sawada, 28, who was returning from a holiday in Sapporo.
"After the accident happened, I was laughing a bit at first when I could see some sparks coming out (of the engine).
But when the fire started, I realised it was more than just something."
Flight attendants seemed to be urging people to remain calm, saying "please cooperate", according to the video shared with Reuters.
Outside, 115 fire-fighting units were deployed to the scene to tackle a blaze that started at the back of the plane and eventually engulfed the whole aircraft in a ball of flames.
Yamake, who was seated near the front, said despite some passengers being very anxious, the crew quickly deployed the evacuation chutes and people began disembarking in an orderly fashion.
The airline said the evacuation began almost immediately after the plane came to a standstill and that all passengers were taken to safety within less than 20 minutes.
Passengers wait in Terminal 2 of Haneda International Airport after operations are suspended. – Reuters
Video footage showed passengers being evacuated calmly, apparently without hand luggage. Aviation safety agencies have warned for years that pausing to collect carry-on baggage risks lives during an evacuation.
Paul Hayes, director of air safety at UK-based aviation consultancy Ascend by Cirium, said:
"The cabin crew must have done an excellent job. There don't seem to be any carry-ons.
"It was a miracle that all the passengers got off."
A Japanese transport ministry official said at a media briefing that the airline's evacuation procedures were "conducted appropriately".
Sawada said around 10 minutes after they disembarked, there was an explosion on the plane.
"I can only say it was a miracle, we could have died if we were late," he said.
"I want to know why this happened and I feel like I don't want to board a plane again."
Cause under investigation
Based on interviews with the flight crew, the airline said the crew acknowledged landing clearance from air traffic control, repeated it back to confirm and then conducted approach and landing operations.
“There were no issues with the aircraft at the time of departure from the New Chitose Airport and during the flight,” the airline said.
It was not immediately possible to determine clearly the sequence of instructions issued in the moments before the crash from multi-channel recordings available on liveatc.net.
The air traffic control monitoring website captured a controller telling all approaching pilots shortly after the impact: “Airport is closed, Haneda airport is closed”.
Firefighters work at Haneda International Airport after Japan Airlines' A350 airplane caught on fire. – Reuters
Transport Minister Saito said the cause of the accident was unclear and the Japan Transport Safety Board, police and other departments would continue to investigate.
Haneda, one of the two main airports serving the Japanese capital Tokyo, was closed for several hours following the accident, but the transport ministry official said three runways had since resumed operations.
JAL’s Japanese rival ANA had earlier said it had cancelled 110 domestic flights departing and landing at Haneda for the rest of Tuesday.
'Global concern'
According to preliminary 2023 data, the collision of the Coast Guard plane with a two-year-old jetliner three times its length follows one of the safest years in aviation.
But it also comes after a US-based safety group warned last month about the risk of runway collisions or “incursions”.
The Flight Safety Foundation called for global action to prevent a new uptick in runway incursions as skies become more congested.
“Despite efforts over the years to prevent incursions, they still happen,” CEO Hassan Shahidi said in a statement.
“The risk of runway incursions is a global concern, and the potential consequences of an incursion are severe.”
Although ground collisions involving injury or damage have become rare, their potential for loss of life is among the highest of any category and near-misses are more common.
A collision between two Boeing 747s in Tenerife in 1977, killing 583 people, remains aviation’s most deadly accident.
Firefighters work on the Coast Guard aircraft involved in the crash at Haneda International Airport. – Reuters
The Washington-based foundation has found that breakdowns in communication and coordination can play a role in runway crashes or near misses.
But a shortage of electronics to avoid collisions on the ground, rather than in the air where software to trigger avoidance has been available since the 1980s, is also a concern.
“Many of the serious incidents could have been avoided through better situational awareness technologies that can help air traffic controllers and pilots detect potential runway conflicts,” Shahidi said.
The Federal Aviation Administration says some three dozen US airports are fitted with a system called ASDE-X that uses radar, satellites and a navigation tool called multi-lateration to track ground movements.
But National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy said in November the US aviation network – a bellwether for airports worldwide – lacks sufficient technology to prevent runway incursions.
The burn-out remains of the Coast Guard aircraft at Haneda airport. – AP
In 2018, Airbus said it was working with Honeywell on a system called SURF-A or Surface-Alert designed to help prevent runway collisions.
But no date for implementation has yet been announced and rolling out complex new aviation systems can take years.
Far-reaching reforms of European and US air traffic networks that could accelerate the use of such computerised systems have faced chronic delays.
Steve Creamer, a former senior director at the International Civil Aviation Organization, said preventing a landing aircraft striking a plane is among the top five global safety priorities.
Although automated landings are increasing, experts say much still depends on visual checks by pilots who may be distracted by a high workload or the blur of a night-time runway.