Tokyo, Jan 3: Japanese transportation authorities on Wednesday started a probe into the cause of a collision between a Coast Guard aircraft and a Japan Airlines (JAL) passenger plane at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport the previous day, which led to over 300 flight cancellations. The Japan Transport Safety Board, the government-affiliated agency in charge of probing serious accidents involving airplanes, trains and ships, examined the aircraft wreckage during the day while police also inspected the accident site, reports Xinhua news agency.
The safety board reported that it had retrieved the flight and voice recorders of the Coast Guard aircraft and was still searching for those of the JAL plane, which had flown from New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido prefecture, according to local media outlets. A Haneda air traffic controller had permitted the passenger plane to land on a runway before the crash took place, and had ordered the coast guard aircraft to “hold short of the runway,” national broadcaster NHK reported, citing sources with Japan’s transport ministry. The plane’s crew members had told the company that they proceeded with the landing after confir ming with air traffic control and that there were no abnormalities with the aircraft during the flight, national news agency Kyodo quoted JAL as saying on Wednesday.
The crash forced the airport to shut down all runways for several hours on Tuesday evening, leading to cancellations of 226 flights to and from Haneda, affecting over 40,000 passengers. Despite the reopening of three runways on Wednesday, about 100 flights are still expected to be scrubbed on Wednesday, disrupting the travel plans of 19,000 passengers. At around 6 p.m.on Tuesday, JAL Flight 516, an Airbus A-350, was landing on Haneda’s C-runway when the Coast Guard flight MA-722, a Bombardier Dash-8, collided with it, both aircraft catching fire. (IANS)
Television footage on Tuesday showed a large burst of fire erupting from the side of the JAL plane as it taxied on a runway.
The area around the wing then caught fire. The footage seen an hour later showed the blaze engulfed the aircraft.