Japanese investigators on Wednesday studied the burned hull of the airliner that burst into a fireball on the runway a day earlier, as air traffic control recordings blamed the earthquake relief plane that hit.
Photos from Haneda International Airport showed that only the wings and tail of the burning Japan Airlines plane remained on the runway.
The charred cabin was completely separated from the rest of the burning Airbus A350, from which 379 passengers and 12 crew members miraculously escaped.
The plane was landing at Tokyo airport on Tuesday when it collided with a coast guard plane, killing five service members carrying aid to victims of a deadly earthquake.
Authorities say the airliner had been cleared to land, while air traffic controllers told the coast guard pilot to “hold on.”
According to a transcript of air traffic control communications from about five minutes before the crash, a controller told the Japan Airlines flight to “continue approaching” Runway C when it arrived around 5:47 p.m.
Photos emerged early Wednesday of the scene at Haneda International Airport, where only the wings and tail of a Japan Airlines plane remained on the tarmac. ZUMAPRESS.com Authorities say the passenger plane had been given permission to land, while air traffic controllers told the coast guard crew to “hold”. AFP via Getty Images
The Japan Airlines flight crew then “acknowledged and repeated” the order before heading to the tarmac, airline officials stressed in a news release.
The coast guard crew members then said they were taxiing on the same runway and the air traffic controller ordered them to the stop line before the plane reached the runway.
The controller noted that the coast guard flight has departure priority and the pilot headed to the stop line.
However, it never received clearance to take off.
A coast guard official claimed that the flight was given permission to enter the runway and prepare for takeoff, although he acknowledged that the transcript does not prove this, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reports.
The charred cabin was completely separated from the rest of the Airbus A350, from which more than 300 passengers miraculously escaped before it burst into a fireball. AP
Transportation officials are focusing on communications between air traffic control officials and the two plane crews as they continue their investigation.
Japan’s Transportation Safety Board said investigators plan to interview pilots and officials from both sides, as well as air traffic control officials to find out how the two planes ended up on the runway.
They will be assisted by British and French aeronautical experts.
Meanwhile, local police are investigating whether there was professional negligence.
“There is a strong possibility that this is human error,” Hiroyuki Kobayashi, a former pilot and aviation analyst for Japan Airlines, told The Guardian.
“Usually only one plane is allowed onto the runway, but even though it had been given clearance to land, the Japanese coast guard plane was on the runway.”
The plane collided with a Japanese coast guard plane as it landed at Tokyo airport on Tuesday, killing five service members who were preparing to provide aid to victims of a deadly earthquake. AP Passengers said the flight crew used megaphones and their voices to broadcast evacuation instructions. AP Miraculously, only 14 people on the passenger plane were treated at a local hospital for injuries. JIJI PRESS/AFP via Getty Images
Only one coast guard crew member aboard the Bombardier Dash-8 maritime patrol plane survived the collision: Captain Genki Miyomoto, 39, who reportedly climbed out of the wreckage before radioing for help.
Fourteen people aboard the passenger plane were also treated at a local hospital.
One had bruises and 13 others sought medical consultations “due to physical discomfort,” Japan Airlines officials said in a news release.
They told how the flight crew had to guide the 379 passengers off the plane to emergency slides using megaphones and “their own voices” after the plane’s announcement system failed.
“The entire cabin filled with smoke within a few minutes,” Swedish passenger Anton Deibe, 17, told Aftonbladet.
“We fell to the ground. Then the emergency doors opened and we jumped on them.”
More than 300 passengers aboard the plane were able to escape before it exploded into a fireball. Via REUTERS
Images and footage shared on social media showed passengers screaming inside the smoke-filled cabin and running down the runway away from an evacuation slide.
“I felt a pop, like we hit something and we jolted upward the moment we landed,” a passenger on the JAL flight told Kyodo news agency. “I saw sparks outside the window and the cabin filled with gas and smoke.”
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida ordered relevant agencies to coordinate to assess the damage, according to his office.
With post cables
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Source: vtt.edu.vn