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PHOENIX - As an investigation into a collision involving a Japan Airlines flight at Tokyo's Haneda Airport continues, some are calling the incident a miracle, in that every passenger on the airliner managed to make it out alive.
While no deaths were reported on the airliner itself, five people onboard a Japanese coast guard aircraft that collided with the Japan Airlines plane died as a result of the incident.
There were 379 people on the airliner when the collision happened. Television footage showed an orange fireball erupting from the Japan Airlines plane as it collided while landing, and the airliner then spewed smoke from its side as it continued down the runway. Within 20 minutes, all passengers and crew members slid down emergency chutes to get away.
As firefighters tried to put out the blaze with streams of water, the area around the passenger plane’s wing caught fire. The flames spread throughout the plane, which eventually collapsed. The fire was extinguished after about six hours.
The crash marks the first severe damage to an Airbus A350, which is among the industry’s newest large passenger planes. In a statement, officials with Airbus said they were sending specialists to help Japanese and French officials investigating the accident, and that the plane was delivered to Japan Airlines in late 2021.
Arizona aviation expert speaks out
The burnt wreckage of a Japan Airlines (JAL) passenger plane on the tarmac at Tokyo International Airport at Haneda in Tokyo (Photo by Richard A. Brooks / AFP)
Adam Silva, a retired FAA examiner and current lead captain, said the rule is manufacturers have to show that all passengers can be evacuated in 90 seconds.
"Well, the flight attendants did an amazing job," said Silva. "People think the flight attendants are there just to give you drinks and peanuts and snacks, whenever things go sideways. There are highly trained individuals. They sprung into action. They made sure all people got off that aircraft safely. The fact that nobody perished on the airbus A350 is just shocking."
A transcript of the air traffic control communication was released today, showing the coast guard aircraft had not been cleared for takeoff, and was only told to taxi to a holding point.
According to the AP, Japan's Transport Ministry has released a transcript of air traffic control communication of about 4 minutes and 25 seconds just before the crash. It showed no clear takeoff approval was given to the coast guard plane.
According to the text, the Tokyo air control gave the Japan Airlines plane permission to land, noting that there is a departing plane, with the Japan Airlines pilot repeating the instruction.
"Listening to the transcripts, the Airbus was cleared to land," said Silva. "So first thing first, the Airbus was not in the wrong. They were cleared to land, and any time an aircraft is clear to land, they have priority over all of their aircraft, except aircraft that are in an emergency."
Silva exmained the video a number of times, and found it notable that the coast guard plane did not have a technology that uses GPS to transmit information about the plane's position to air traffic control and other aircraft.
"So not having ADSB, not having any record licensed of an airplane, I don't understand why the Japanese coast guard didn't have that installed," said Silva. "That's something that's going to be that's a question that's got to be posed to Japanese government."
Japan's transport officials said the next step in the investigation will be to listen to the audio recording of the conversation between the coast guard pilot and flight control.