Five people killed in airport collison in Japan

Started by angry turnip, Jan 02, 2024, 12:40 PM

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angry turnip

Five people aboard a Japanese coastguard plane have died after their aircraft collided with an Airbus A350 at Tokyo's Haneda Airport.

More from BBC and Sky    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-asia-67862184

                          https://uk.yahoo.com/news/plane-flames-runway-tokyo-airport-092000530.html

angry turnip

#1
UPDATE : Aircraft involved were Japan Coast Guard DHC-8-315Q MPA JA722A and Japan Airlines flight JL516, an Airbus A350-941 JA13XJ

It appears the Coast Guard flight was waiting to depart runway 34R, but JL516 was landing on runway 34R.
ATC is under investigation, it is unclear at present if Dash 8 was cleared to depart before or after the A350

casper

"We have just witnessed a miracle," former commercial pilot Roger Whitefield told Sky News, as footage from the scene played out. "The way they got all those passengers off that aeroplane is almost beyond belief."

and this totally pissed me off in the Sky News reporting. Devine intervention and not the skill and training of the flight and cabin crew saved the passengers.

angry turnip

#3
Further update: Some reports saying the Dash-8 was not given permission to enter the active runway 34R

From BBC News  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-67874607

The coastguard aircraft's last communication with the tower was to repeat the instruction "taxi to holding point"

I`m not entirely convinced by this, probably the article is somewhat dumbed down, but I think most of us know the instruction would be more detailed than that. For example something like  722A Hold short 34R at Bravo, traffic on  finals.

Clearly there was a major failure of procedure`s which will should come out in any investigations.
On a side note, close call incidents are fairly common in the US in particular, but as yet most haven`t ended in an actual accident.Plenty of very alalrming incidents on youtube for those interested.

Jimi182

The Coast Guard pilot has stated he was given permission to enter the runway and was not informed about the approaching aircraft. The transcript says otherwise.

Eager to get off the ground? Surely co-pilot would have intervened if the Captain proceeded to try and enter the runway without the appropriate clearance. It is a busy commercial airport etc. So many unknowns so far.

angry turnip

#5
It`s very strange that this happened at a major international airport.
I found something which I had not read about before...

Comms released indicate that JL516 had been cleared to land on runway 34R. JA722A had been instructed to hold short on taxiway C5. This instruction was read back correctly.

Additionally, it appears the stop bar lights for taxiway C5 (and other taxiways) was unserviceable, as per Notam published on December 25: "STOP-BAR-LGT FOR C1 THRU C14-U/S".

Also there is a breakdown of the ATC and pilot responses.

Thing I noticed the 1st response to JL516 from Tokyo Tower, which ends with " we have departure "
Another aircraft calls up, DL276 confirming he is at holding point C1.Tower then clears JL516 to land 34R, what was the departure Tower mentioned in it`s 1st message to JL516 ?--that part is confusing.
10 secs after JL516 gets it`s landing clearance,Dash8 JA722A calls Tower,told to taxi to holding point C5, as No1,which is readback correctly.
Would JA722A not be on the same frequency, and surely they would have heard JL516 being cleared to land ?
I would have expected ATC to remind JA722A there was landing traffic 34R on finals at this point, especially as this was during night ops.This was not done.

JL179 then calls Tower, told to taxi to holding point C1 as No3. JL179 confirms they are at C1 and adds "we are ready".
Next inbound JL166 calls tower.Tower tells him they are No2 for 34R, continue approach,given wind speed and direction then we have departure is mentioned again. JL166 is told to reduce speed.
Shortly after this JL516 touches down and collides with JA722A on the active runway.

Most countries are likely to have some local aviation regulations that others don`t. I`m not sure that the crew of landing aircraft need to know there are aircraft waiting to depart. They are busy with their landing, then vacating the runway,and taxi to gate.
Aircraft holding to depart have to wait their turn,however frustrating that may be. As I mentioned earlier I think in the UK holding aircraft may well be told there is an aircraft on final, especially in the hours of darkness.
That would certainly go a long way to avoid any confusion. RIP to those that were lost.