Investigation launched into Tokyo airport collision: Did the smaller plane not receive clearance for takeoff?

(Patria) - Japanese authorities, based on air traffic control recordings, announced that the passenger plane that collided with a coast guard aircraft at Tokyo airport the day before yesterday received clearance for landing, but the smaller plane did not receive clearance for takeoff.

A Japan Airlines plane collided with a coast guard aircraft while landing on Tuesday, and both caught fire.

All 379 passengers of the passenger Airbus A350 managed to escape the burning plane without major injuries, but five passengers on the De Havilland Dash-8 coast guard plane died.

Only the captain survived, suffering severe injuries. The fire on the Airbus was extinguished eight hours after the collision.

The Japan Transport Safety Board (JTSB), a government agency responsible for serious accidents involving aircraft, ships, and trains, has begun investigating the burnt wreckage, the Japanese news agency Kyodo reported.

Given that the investigation has just begun, it is still unknown how both planes ended up on the same runway.

Experts claim that such an accident only occurs in cases of multiple safety failures.

However, from the air traffic control communication, it is evident that the passenger plane was given permission to land, while the coast guard plane was authorized to taxi to the holding point near the runway.According to the JTSB, the Coast Guard plane was not given permission to take off.

Meanwhile, the Tokyo police, in a separate investigation, are determining whether professional negligence occurred and if it was the cause of the passengers' deaths and injuries.

The smaller plane was transporting aid to survivors of a series of devastating earthquakes that struck Japan on the first day of 2024, the strongest of which was magnitude 7.6. 62 people died.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida yesterday allayed concerns that this accident could slow down the delivery of aid to the affected western part of the country.

Japan Airlines (JAL) announced that it will fully cooperate with the investigation of this unfortunate event.

Airbus will also provide technical assistance to the authorities in the investigation. The A350-900 aircraft was only two years old.

All runways at Japan's busiest airports were closed on the day of the accident, but have since reopened, except for the one where the collision occurred.

JAL canceled more than 40 flights from Haneda yesterday, and dozens of flights at that airport were also canceled by All Nippon Airways.