Passenger jet in fiery crash at Haneda airport was cleared to land, Japan Airlines
A passenger jet that collided with a coast guard plane in a catastrophic accident at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport had been given permission to land, Japan Airlines executives have said, as police reportedly prepared to investigate whether the crash involved professional negligence, The Guardian reports.
Five people on the coast guard aircraft died in Tuesday’s crash, but all 379 passengers and crew escaped to safety down emergency slides minutes before the Japan Airlines Airbus was engulfed in flames.
Aviation experts have praised the crew, saying their actions helped avert a far worse outcome.
Asked at a briefing late on Tuesday whether the Japan Airlines flight had secured landing permission from air traffic control, officials at the major carrier said: “Our understanding is that it was given.”
Authorities began inspecting the charred wreckage and runway for clues as Haneda reopened three of its four runways on Wednesday. On the closed runway, the burned-out husk of the airliner bore witness to just how close the plane came to disaster.
The captain of the coast guard plane – which had been carrying aid to the region affected by the powerful earthquake on New Year’s Day – was its lone survivor but suffered serious injuries. Five others on the plane died.
Footage on Tuesday showed a ball of fire erupting and thick black smoke coming from underneath the airliner shortly after it landed and came to a halt on its nose after its front landing gear failed.
