On the night of January 2, 2024, two plane collided at Tokyo Haneda Airport (HND), resulting in a significant accident with fatalities. Within the day since this incident, numerous particulars have emerged about what occurred, so I needed to take one other have a look at what we all know. There are some fairly shocking particulars rising…
Japan Airways A350 & Japan Coast Guard airplane collide
This incident occurred at 5:47PM on Tuesday, January 2, 2024, and includes two plane:
- A roughly two-year-old Japan Airways Airbus A350-900 with the license plate JA13XJ; this airplane was working flight JL516, which was simply touchdown on Haneda Airport runway 34R after finishing an 80-minute flight from Sapporo
- A roughly 16-year-old Japan Coast Guard Bombardier DHC-8-300 with the license plate JA722A; this airplane was alleged to be departing Haneda Airport runway 34R proper after the Japan Airways A350 landed
Lengthy story brief, the 2 plane have been on the runway on the similar time, and collided. The under video exhibits the explosion that occurred from the influence, because the A350 continued barreling down the runway on fireplace (whilst you can barely see the a lot smaller turboprop).
Under you may see a graphic that exhibits the place the collision occurred (although ignore the ATC transcript for now, for causes I’ll clarify a bit later).
On the Japan Airways A350, all 359 passengers and 20 crew members managed to evacuate. Whereas there have been no fatalities, no less than 17 individuals from the A350 have been injured, and it’s not clear how critical these accidents are.
There have been six individuals onboard the Japan Coast Guard plane. Tragically, 5 of them have misplaced their lives, whereas one is in crucial situation. Ugh, that’s simply terrible… my ideas are with these onboard and their households.
It’s completely surprising to take a look at what’s left of the Japan Airways A350 this morning, after the hearth raged on for hours. It’s such a testomony to how effectively constructed plane are that everybody may safely evacuate the A350, regardless of there being an influence at over 100+ miles per hour, plus this airplane in the end burning to the purpose of a hull loss.
This accident represents the first-ever hull lack of an Airbus A350, in addition to the one hull lack of a Japan Airways plane within the final 40 or so years.
Japan Airways has a fleet of A350-900s that solely function home flights, they usually’re in a excessive density configuration with 369 seats. The airline has 16 of those Airbus jets, with an extra two jets on order. That is separate from the A350-1000 that Japan Airways will quickly begin flying, as its new flagship lengthy haul jet.
The Japan Airways’ A350s evacuation wasn’t with out concern
video footage of the evacuation, I’m impressed that most individuals left their carry-on gadgets behind, as they’re alleged to. That may be the distinction between life and loss of life, and it’s the place Japan’s tradition of following guidelines actually turns out to be useful. There’s video footage from contained in the plane through the evacuation, and as you’d anticipate, it’s scary.
Nonetheless, it’s necessary to notice that the evacuation wasn’t with out concern. The emergency announcement system apparently stopped working through the evacuation, so flight attendants needed to scream and use megaphones to speak with passengers. Hopefully an intensive investigation is carried out into why this occurred, as that is the primary time that an A350 has ever been in such a critical scenario.
On high of that, solely three of the eight emergency exits have been used for the evacuation, because the crew evaluated which exits may safely be used primarily based on the situation of the hearth.
The crew deserves large credit score for his or her efficiency right here. They evacuated an A350 very quickly, they usually did so with no public announcement system, and with solely with the ability to use three exits. It’s an excellent reminder that flight attendants aren’t simply there to supply service, but in addition to take care of everybody’s security, and the crew succeeded with that.
What induced the accident at Tokyo Haneda Airport?
An in depth investigation can be carried out into the reason for this accident, and it’s too early to know for positive what occurred. Nonetheless, there are some particulars that we do know. To start with, you may take heed to the air site visitors management audio from across the time of the accident, and the related half is 15-18 minutes in, when directions are given, and when it’s reported that an plane is on fireplace.
The coming Japan Airways A350 had acquired touchdown clearance for runway 34R, so the airplane had permission to land. In the meantime the departing Japan Coast Guard DHC-8 had solely been given clearance to taxi to runway 34R and maintain brief, and to not enter it. Particularly, right here’s the related transmission:
Air site visitors controller: “JA722A, Tokyo tower, good night, primary, taxi to holding level C5.”
Pilot: “Taxi to holding level C5, JA722A, primary, thanks.”
The pilot of the Japan Coast Guard airplane confirmed the instruction to attend on the holding level, so one has to marvel how the airplane ended up on the runway. As you may see, this isn’t a case the place the controller gave incorrect directions, or the place directions weren’t learn again accurately. Did the pilots get thrown off by being instructed they’re “primary,” for some motive, or what doable clarification is there?
There may be one different main issue that performs into this. The Haneda Airport warning lights that point out if a runway is evident have been out of service on the time of this accident. This has been the case since December 27, 2023, so it began a number of days earlier than the incident. There was a NOTAM about this (this can be a discover to pilots that they’re alleged to learn previous to working a flight), so it’s one thing pilots ought to have recognized.
The Japan Coast Guard plane was about to carry out a flight to ship help following Japan’s earthquake. One has to marvel if the pilots have been rushed and exhausted, didn’t totally learn the NOTAMs, after which interpreted being “primary” plus the shortage of runway warning lights as a sign that they have been cleared for takeoff?
Backside line
A Japan Airways Airbus A350 and a Japan Coast Guard Bombardier DHC-8 collided on runway 34R at Tokyo Haneda Airport. The A350 managed to be evacuated with no fatalities, whereas tragically 5 of the six individuals on the Japan Coast Guard plane died.
Based mostly on what we all know to this point, the Japan Airways A350 had been given permission to land, whereas the Japan Coast Guard turboprop entered the runway with out permission. The large query is why that occurred, on condition that they learn again the right directions from controllers.
What do you make of this Tokyo Haneda Airport incident?
