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The pilots of the Japan Airlines plane that collided with a smaller plane at Tokyo airport on Wednesday initially had no idea that their plane had caught fire after the collision. It was just an employee who pointed it out to her. Thanks to the perfectly carried out evacuation, none of the 379 people on board were killed. Five of the six crew members of a smaller Coast Guard aircraft that collided with an Airbus A350 died in the accident.
“Immediately after landing, the pilot felt a jolt and lost control of the aircraft, unable to keep the aircraft on the runway. The plane caught fire, but the pilots did not initially register it and only found out about it from a member of the cabin crew,” said a Japan Airlines spokesman.
There were three pilots and twelve stewardesses on board at the time of the accident. Because the onboard radio was not working, the crew had to use a megaphone or their own voice to convey instructions.
“When the flight attendants realized that the plane was on fire, they initially tried to calm the passengers and prevent them from getting up, which would have made escape more difficult,” a Japan Airlines spokesman said.
Japanese media described the evacuation, which was completed within eighteen minutes, as a minor miracle. In her opinion, the well-trained crew and the discipline of the passengers, who left their on-board luggage in place and followed the instructions to the emergency exits, contributed to the success of the event. They got out of the aircraft through the lowered emergency slides.
“Collaboration was the key to successfully rescuing everyone on board,” a Japan Airlines spokesman said.
The accident is being investigated by the Japan Transport Agency, and a separate investigation is also being conducted by Japanese police. There is still much uncertainty about the incident, including how the two planes ended up on the same runway. Japanese authorities said Thursday that although the Japan Airlines plane was cleared to land by air traffic control, the smaller plane was told to prepare for takeoff on a taxiway waiting area, according to records of communication with the control tower .
An Airbus A350 caught fire at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. | Photo: Reuters
This contradicts the claim of the captain of the Coast Guard’s Bombardier Dash-8 aircraft – who was the sole survivor of the accident – that his plane was also granted access to the runway.
The BBC said it had been informed that the lights marking the waiting area may not have been working. According to experts, there are also other visual signals at this point, such as signs painted on the taxiway that indicate where the plane should wait before entering the runway.
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