Yesterday, a deadly accident took place at Tokyo Haneda Airport when a JAL A350 collided with a Japan Coast Guard Dash 8 upon landing. Sadly, five of the Dash 8’s six crew members lost their lives. Thankfully, all onboard the A350 evacuated safely.
Multiple investigations have now been launched to identify the cause of the accident. Operations at Haneda Airport continue to be disrupted as the runway on which the accident happened remains closed.
Continue reading to learn more.
Little Remains of the Involved A350 and Dash 8
With the aircraft continuing to burn after sunset yesterday and firefighters battling the fire until after midnight, it wasn’t until this morning that footage of the wrecks in their final state emerged.
Not unexpectedly, both the two aircraft involved in the accident – a JAL A350-900 registered JA13XJ and a Japan Coast Guard Dash 8 Q300 registered JA722A (MA722) – have almost completely burned.
The only recognizable remainder of the A350 are its winglets, portside wing/engine, and part of the nose. As for the latter, a part of the Japan Coast Guard livery on the aircraft’s nose can be seen with the rest of the aircraft being burned.
JTSB Launches an Investigation
Immediately after the accident, the part of Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) responsible for investigating air crashes in Japan – the Japan Transport Safety Board (JTSB) – launched an investigation into the accident.
JTSB investigators will be joined by four investigators from France’s Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses (BEA) and five Airbus technical advisors representing the aircraft’s manufacturer and the country in which the aircraft was built.
With this being the first Airbus A350 hull loss and the first time an airliner made primarily from carbon fiber burned to this extent, the investigation should be helpful not only in establishing the cause of yesterday’s accident but also in understanding modern carbon fiber aircraft better.
As The Air Current’s Jon Ostrower noted, “A lot of analyses and small-scale tests on carbon fiber just got a massive trove of new data.”
Separately from the aviation regulators, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police has opened an investigation into the accident to see if there has been a case of professional negligence or other criminal violations.
What Is Know About the Haneda Runway Collision So Far
As usual these days, speculations, many unfounded, about the cause of the accident started popping up on social media immediately minutes after the accident.
In times like this, it is important to keep in mind the words of Shigenori Hiraoka, Japan Civil Aviation Bureau’s Director-General made during a press conference following the accident: “it was an extremely serious accident and as such it is not possible to make statements lightly.”
With that, below is what is known about the accident so far (latest updates bolded):
- The JAL A350 was landing on Tokyo Haneda’s runway 34R after a flight from Sapporo New Chitose as flight JL516 when it hit the Japan Coast Guard Dash 8 which was about to depart bound for Niigata via 34R’s C-5 intersection to deliver aid to the area struck by an earthquake on January 1, 2024
- All 379 people onboard the JAL A350 including 367 passengers (including 8 infants) and 12 crew members (3 pilots and 9 flight attendants) evacuated safely with just a few sustaining injuries in the process
- Five of the six Dash 8 crew members lost their lives; the captain survived and is in a critical condition
- According to NHK, MLIT has now confirmed that JL516 was cleared to land on runway 34R while the Japan Coast Guard Dash 8 was instructed to hold short of runway 34R; investigators continue to figure out the reasons why the Dash 8 crew entered the runway despite being told to hold short
Additionally, after the accident, while stating that it is “not able to make any definitive statements,” JAL noted that:
- The crew understood its flight had received landing clearance
- After receiving what it understood to be the landing clearance, the crew read the clearance back, and performed the final approach and landing procedures
Yoshio Seguchi, Japan Coast Guard’s Vice Commandant noted during a joint press conference by the MLIT and the Japan Coast Guard that the Japan Coast Guard had received communication from the Dash 8’s captain after the accident saying the aircraft exploded on the runway and that he was able to escape.
Until the investigators go through all of the communications between the two flights and air traffic control, it is impossible to make any definitive statements about who was at fault for this accident.
Runway 16L/34R Remains Closed, About 100 Flights Affected Today
Tokyo Haneda Airport reopened before 10PM yesterday with a Qatar Airways A350-900 being the first aircraft to land at the airport after the accident.
However, with two wrecks on runway 16L/34R, the runway remains unusable for the time being, leaving the airport short of its full capacity. Remaining three runways (16R/34L, 04/22, and 05/23) are operational.
According to NHK, in the aftermath of the accident, ANA and JAL are expected to cancel about 100 flights on January 3, 2024. That includes 44 JAL domestic flights, mainly in the morning, and 54 ANA domestic flights.
Given that today is expected to be the peak in terms of people traveling back from their New Year holidays, extra flights and bullet trains have been scheduled to make up for the cancelations.
Summary
Sadly, five Japan Cost Guard Dash 8 crew members lost their lives in an accident involving a collision with a much larger JAL A350. Fortunately, though, the remaining nearly 400 people involved in the tragic collision were able to evacuate.
While speculations started to appear around the web about the cause of the accident, it is too early to make any conclusions. Instead, it is better to leave the investigators to do their job. In addition to the Japan Transport Safety Board, the French authorities and Airbus sent their staff to Japan as well.
I will continue updating this story as new information emerges.
