TOKYO: Five people on a coast guard plane died after it was hit by a Japan Airlines Airbus A350 coming in to land, but all 379 people on the airliner were evacuated.
Here follows a rundown of what is known after the collision on Tuesday (Jan 2) at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, which ended with both planes engulfed in flames.
SEQUENCE OF EVENTS
According to a communications transcript released by the Japanese government, Japan Airlines flight JAL-516 arriving from Hokkaido was cleared at 5.44.56pm by air traffic control to land on runway 34R.
On the tarmac, coast guard flight JA722A was instructed 15 seconds later to “taxi to holding point C5”, located at least 50m from the edge of the runway.
The pilot of JA722A acknowledged the order immediately afterwards.
Roughly two minutes later, the Japan Airlines flight landed and hit the coast guard’s DHC-8 aircraft, suggesting that the latter had proceeded onto the actual runway.
JA722A captain Genki Miyamoto, its only survivor, said immediately after the accident that he had permission to take off, broadcaster NHK reported.
The JAL flight crew had no “visual contact” of the other plane, although one of them spotted “an object” just before impact, an airline spokesman told AFP on Thursday.
Source: CNA
