News JAL airliner collides with Coast Guard plane at Haneda

johnnyG said:

I'll guess the CG plane was lost/disoriented--thought they were still on a taxiway rather than an active runway.

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thomas said:

It was either a mistake of the CG pilots or the ATC. The other five crew members were reported dead. The CG plane was scheduled to deliver earthquake relief supplies to Niigata.

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The evacuation of every passenger from the Japan Airlines aircraft that collided with a smaller plane on Tuesday seemed all the more miraculous as footage of the ensuing inferno emerged. However, instead of being down to luck, industry insiders believe the incident proves how modern materials and tough fire safety rules can protect passengers. The incident at Haneda Airport, Tokyo, marks the first time an Airbus A350 has been destroyed in an accident. The model is the first of the manufacturer's passenger jets to be built largely from carbon fibre composites. [...] "We saw many cases in the 1980s and the 90s where once an aircraft was affected by fire, it almost always spread quickly. But if you watch today, it took a surprisingly long time before the plane was on fire."

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Mikawa Ossan said:

I saw an article today in the Washington Post that cited another factor that helped everyone get off the JAL flight safely: everyone left their belongings behind. Being a domestic flight, that was probably fairly easy for people to do. If it were international, on the other hand, how many people would have been okay leaving everything behind? I'm thinking purely in terms of people trying to make sure they have their passports.

At any rate, thank goodness that almost everyone involved in the accident made it out alive.

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Children cried, adults sensed looming death, and flight attendants shouted orders as flames and panic engulfed JAL Flight 516. But after the terrifying ordeal, all 379 passengers and crew members managed to escape the burning aircraft before it was too late. Several of them explained what they had just experienced. One passenger had filmed a video of a left side window tinted orange from flames after the Japan Airlines passenger jet hit a Japan Coast Guard aircraft on a runway at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Jan. 2. The video captured people in the cabin screaming: "Get me out of here now. Please!" Flight attendants were shouting back, "Please cooperate!" The cabin announcement system did not work, and the flight crew had to yell out their instructions or use megaphones.

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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 was 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, told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet. "The smoke in the cabin stung like hell."

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The Transport Ministry released an air traffic control communication transcript of about 4 minutes and 27 seconds just before the crash. It showed no clear takeoff approval for the Coast Guard plane. According to the text, the Tokyo air control gave the JAL Airbus A350 permission to land on Runway C, noting that there was a departing plane, with the JAL pilot repeating the action. The Coast Guard plane said it was taxiing to the same runway, and the traffic control instructed it to proceed to the stop line ahead of the runway. The controller noted the Coast Guard gets the departure priority, and the pilot said he was moving to the stop line. Their communication ends there. Two minutes later, there was a three-second pause, apparently indicating the time of the collision.

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The transcripts appear to contradict the coastguard plane's captain - the only one of the six crew to survive - who told investigators he had been given permission to enter the runway the JAL airliner was approaching. The BBC has also found information suggesting the series of lights at the relevant holding point may not have worked. However, experts point out other visual cues, like painted markings, showing where aircraft must stop short of the runway.

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johnnyG said:

Another part of the equation was the passengers on the plane. The same crew/accident/evacuation with 350 people from some other countries I can think of (instead of japanese) probably would not have gone so well.

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thomas said:

many of my foreign acquaintances and colleagues just upped and left

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According to communication records released by the transport ministry on Jan. 3, the air traffic controller instructed the Coast Guard aircraft: "Good evening. No. 1. Taxi to holding point C5." The Coast Guard plane responded: "Taxi to holding point C5. No. 1. Thank you." The C5 holding point is on the taxiway in front of the runway. But the experts said the problem stems from what "No. 1" meant. Hajime Naito, 71, a former captain at All Nippon Airways, said the Coast Guard pilot may not have been aware that the JAL plane had been given permission to land.[/quot]

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mdchachi said:

Yes. I might be prejudiced, but I imagine with a plane full of Americans, there'd be a few trying to get to the overhead compartments. On the other hand, when a plane is full of smoke and you're thinking you might die, that might be enough incentive to get the hell out of there.

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The question isn't only whether Americans could rapidly escape the cramped, dark, smoky, and chaotic cabin of a passenger jet when their lives depend on it, but whether shrunken seat sizes and new cabin hazards get in the way of safely evacuating, as the 379 people aboard the flight did Tuesday evening. [...] "I think if that happened in the United States, it would have been a very different scenario because of our attachment to our carry-on bags, our laptops, our phones, our things that we want to take with us," said CNN aviation analyst and former FAA official David Soucie. "I worry sometimes that might interfere with the ability to get everybody evacuated."

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thomas said:

This was also mentioned in a recent piece by CNN:

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/06/us/japan-airlines-flight-516-tokyo-evacuation-concerns/index.html

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mdchachi said:

I wonder who the last person off was. If somebody did a sweep of the cabin before getting off that would truly heroic. Though by that time there may have been too much smoke to effectively check.

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Under international aircraft design standards, all passengers must be able to evacuate within 90 seconds after the emergency doors are opened and the evacuation slides inflated.
According to JAL, crews train once a year to be able to evacuate passengers within 90 seconds.

Employees role-play as passengers in the training under various scenarios, including with infants on board and with dark conditions inside or outside the plane, according to the public relations office.

"It is very dangerous to try to evacuate without knowing the cause or location of the trouble," said Sayori Kodama, a former flight attendant and specially appointed professor in the business administration department at Meisei University. "Properly gauging the situation may have been particularly difficult this time," she said.

Had the exits been opened randomly, flames could have entered the cabin. "The calm actions of the crew, based on their training, likely helped ensure the safety of the passengers," Kodama said.

Emergency evacuation guidance has been repeatedly revised based on lessons from past airplane accidents.
JAL and others will likely examine the details of Tuesday's evacuation and look for possible improvements.

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Neither the captain nor the co-pilot appears to have corrected this misunderstanding during their internal communication, even after confirming the order between them. According to communication records released shortly after the accident, the air-traffic controller instructed the Coast Guard aircraft: "Good evening. No. 1. Taxi to holding point C5." The Coast Guard co-pilot responded: "Taxi to holding point C5. No. 1. Thank you." The exchange was conducted in English, and the captain of the Coast Guard plane was also listening to it. After this, no further communication between the aircraft and the air traffic controller occurred before the collision. The Coast Guard plane continued past the C5 stop position, entering the runway and halting for about 40 seconds before a Japan Airlines passenger jet landing on the runway hit it.

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