Coastguard plane in Japan airport crash mistook taxi instruction for runway clearance

Japan Transport Safety Board releases recordings from the aircraft that collided with a JAL jetliner at Haneda airport in January

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The burnt-out Japan Airlines plane at Haneda airport in Tokyo on January 3. Photo: Kyodo News via AP

Published: 2:05pm, 25 Dec 2024Updated: 11:24pm, 25 Dec 2024

Flight voice recordings from a Japan coastguard plane involved in a fatal collision were released on Wednesday, reinforcing the view that its crew likely erroneously believed the aircraft was allowed to enter the runway when it was hit by Japan Airlines jetliner JAL-516 at Tokyo’s Haneda airport in January.

The co-pilot correctly repeated the airport traffic controller’s instruction to taxi to a holding point where it would await clearance to enter the runway. But subsequent exchanges among the crew suggest they believed they had been given permission to enter, according to a Japan Transport Safety Board report.

According to the report, a traffic controller told the coastguard plane that it was “No 1” in the order of take-off and instructed it to “taxi to holding point C5.” The co-pilot responded, “Taxi to holding point C5,” and it was “No 1.”

The plane’s captain also repeated “No 1” and “C5” and instructed the co-pilot to proceed with preparations for departure. The aircraft then entered the runway.

Based on the content of voice recorders retrieved from the January 2 accident, the only talk on board the plane was about their mission to help the people affected by the magnitude-7.6 earthquake that struck the Noto Peninsula and surrounding areas on the Sea of Japan coast the previous day, it said.

The collision killed five of the six people aboard the coastguard’s Bombardier DHC8-300, while all 379 people aboard the JAL Airbus A350 escaped despite flames engulfing the plane.