How did almost 400 people evacuate burning Japan Airlines jet in just 90 seconds after Haneda Airport crash?

Mr Ross added that many airports around the world now have autoland facilities, a system which takes control of the aircraft’s approach and landing using autopilot.

Such a flight management system can help a plane land in blind conditions, such as heavy fog, that would previously have required the aircraft to divert to another airport, he explained.

“I’m not a hundred per cent certain whether Haneda Airport has that, but I would expect that it does … but this would still not excuse running into an aircraft that was already on the runway,” said Mr Ross.

FOCUS OF INVESTIGATION ON CRASH

Mr Thomas said that the pilot of the Coast Guard plane, the sole survivor on the aircraft albeit with serious injuries, could “help enormously to understand where the confusion has arisen”.

Five of the Coast Guard aircraft’s crew had died in the accident.

The aircraft manufacturer Airbus would also be involved in the investigation, said Mr Ross, and they will be looking primarily at the aircraft’s features and aspects that could have contributed to the accident.

There will also be teams of governmental inspectors from the Japanese civil aviation authority, he added.

Central to the investigations would be the aircraft’s cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder, which will give investigators a clue into the final moments before the crash, said Mr Ross.