Five dead after JAL airliner crashes into quake aid plane at Tokyo airport

[Suneate]

JAL airliner with civilians onboard crashed into a CG plane killing 5 of the 6 CG crew. The CG plane was taking aid for the earthquake that hit earlier

• Jet burst into flames after collision with Coast Guard plane
• All 379 aboard Japan Airlines plane escaped fire
• Aviation expert praises evacuation 'miracle'
• Five of six crew on Coast Guard plane killed
• Coast Guard plane was due to deliver aid to quake zone

Five dead after JAL airliner crashes into quake aid plane at Tokyo airport

[Anianna]

Geez, can we just collectively get our shit together and stop making everything worse?  What kind of incompetence happened here?

[Moab]

Geez, can we just collectively get our shit together and stop making everything worse?  What kind of incompetence happened here?

I'm sure there's more to it than this. But have you ever listened to comms between planes and air traffic control? I used to on my scanner all the time.

Not to mention language and accent differences. But man, its like listening to two ferrets fight over a cockroach in a tin can. 

I'm sure there are more advanced electronics involved. But if it was a chaotic day with last minute changes on the runway. I could totally see this happening.

But yes. Agreed. Can we stop making this sh*t worse?!! 

[Anianna]

Geez, can we just collectively get our shit together and stop making everything worse?  What kind of incompetence happened here?

I'm sure there's more to it than this. But have you ever listened to comms between planes and air traffic control? I used to on my scanner all the time.

Not to mention language and accent differences. But man, its like listening to two ferrets fight over a cockroach in a tin can.

I'm sure there are more advanced electronics involved. But if it was a chaotic day with last minute changes on the runway. I could totally see this happening.

But yes. Agreed. Can we stop making this sh*t worse?!!

True.  This combined with shortages of air traffic controllers and probably trying to get people on the job before they're truly ready in desperation to cover those shortages. 

Among other issues, we just lost a lot of people to a pandemic which left voids in many industries that require highly skilled workers that can't simply be replaced right away.  We seem to be trying to operate as if that didn't happen, which is an incredible risk in many fields. 

[majorhavoc]

I choose to see the silver lining in this incident.  That the crew managed to get every soul aboard safely off the JAL aircraft before it was absolutely devoured by flames is nothing short of amazing.  Think about how ridiculously long it takes to deplane a large aircraft under normal circumstances.  I used to think that 90 second evacuation standard for commercial airliners was a cruel joke. Not anymore.

They'll be studying and teaching that flight crew's exemplary performance for decades to come.

[EBuff75]

I choose to see the silver lining in this incident.  That the crew managed to get every soul aboard safely off the JAL aircraft before it was absolutely devoured by flames is nothing short of amazing.  Think about how ridiculously long it takes to deplane a large aircraft under normal circumstances.  I used to think that 90 second evacuation standard for commercial airliners was a cruel joke. Not anymore.

They'll be studying and teaching that flight crew's exemplary performance for decades to come.

One big reason for the successful evacuation was that everyone followed instructions and left their bags.  That's a huge thing as far as quickly exiting the aircraft and some of the commenters have said that they can't ever recall a case where NOBODY tried to bring their luggage.  

The evacuation itself wasn't particularly fast - 18 minutes - which is well above the 90 second goal (although I seem to recall reading that the passengers were out in less than 5mins, so the 18min might be for crew members who stayed behind to confirm everyone was off).

And the latest information is saying that the Coast Guard plane was told to hold while the airliner landed.  For some unknown reason, they proceeded, possibly in part due to non-functional indicator lights at the hold point.  Those are only preliminary findings as it will take months or even years to fully analyze the incident.

Transcripts show Coastguard plane not cleared for take-off
Japan coast guard plane not cleared for takeoff before deadly runway crash

[Raptor]

I choose to see the silver lining in this incident.  That the crew managed to get every soul aboard safely off the JAL aircraft before it was absolutely devoured by flames is nothing short of amazing.  Think about how ridiculously long it takes to deplane a large aircraft under normal circumstances.  I used to think that 90 second evacuation standard for commercial airliners was a cruel joke. Not anymore.

They'll be studying and teaching that flight crew's exemplary performance for decades to come.

This!

The fact that the only deaths were caused by the impact is amazing. There was literally thousands of gallons of jet fuel spilled and on fire. This occurred at night. This only adds to the confusion and possibility that people will not know where to go. I had no idea the new emergency slides had lights! I guess the light from the jet fuel fire kinda helped point people in the right direction also.

I fly commercial a lot and it takes 10 minutes to get off the plane when it is not on fire. I am impressed everyone GTFO as fast as that. I would have bet that some dim bulb would have blocked the aisle getting a carryon bag out of the overhead bin.

BTW if at all possible I always sit in an exit row. In the hope that if anyone gets off alive it will be me.

[Anianna]

I choose to see the silver lining in this incident.  That the crew managed to get every soul aboard safely off the JAL aircraft before it was absolutely devoured by flames is nothing short of amazing.  Think about how ridiculously long it takes to deplane a large aircraft under normal circumstances.  I used to think that 90 second evacuation standard for commercial airliners was a cruel joke. Not anymore.

They'll be studying and teaching that flight crew's exemplary performance for decades to come.

One big reason for the successful evacuation was that everyone followed instructions and left their bags.  That's a huge thing as far as quickly exiting the aircraft and some of the commenters have said that they can't ever recall a case where NOBODY tried to bring their luggage. 

The evacuation itself wasn't particularly fast - 18 minutes - which is well above the 90 second goal (although I seem to recall reading that the passengers were out in less than 5mins, so the 18min might be for crew members who stayed behind to confirm everyone was off).

And the latest information is saying that the Coast Guard plane was told to hold while the airliner landed.  For some unknown reason, they proceeded, possibly in part due to non-functional indicator lights at the hold point.  Those are only preliminary findings as it will take months or even years to fully analyze the incident.

Transcripts show Coastguard plane not cleared for take-off
Japan coast guard plane not cleared for takeoff before deadly runway crash

There was supposed to be a red light to show them not to enter the runway, but the light wasn't working.  They may not have realized they were on the runway.

ETA:  Shoot, you said that.  Sorry, my head's fuzzy from a cold.  That does seem to be the issue.

[Moab]

I'd like to know how many passengers were from Japan? (I assume most if not all.) Because I doubt very seriously that Americans would get off in such a uniform, organized manner. Without fighting and/or refusing to leave their carry on bags. 

[Raptor]

I listened to the ATC radio comms and was amazed at the poor quality of reception and sratchiness in the transmission of the Japanese Coast Guard aircraft. The other interesting thing to me was that ATC communicated in Japanese to the Coast Guardand English to JAL. That is NOT supposed to happen. All ATC comms worldwide at commercial airports are to be conducted in english. English is the international language of aviation.

That said communications with military aircraft have thier own rules and it is not improper to use the local language. But if you mix the two it is possible that all parties may not understand what is being said couple that with a poor transceiver with poor modulation and you have a real problem.

The Coast Guard plane was taking off from the middle of the runway to expedite their mission. They got to thier hold short point several minutes before the the JAL flight. JAL needed the full runway and the Coast guard plane did not.



I think in this case the ATC folks and airport issues where a huge contributing factor.

The threshold lights at the runway should not have mattered. There is striping and reflectors to clearly indicate the hold short point...assuming of course the taxi lights on the coast guard plane was functioning better than their radio.

[Moab]

I listened to the ATC radio comms and was amazed at the poor quality of reception and sratchiness in the transmission of the Japanese Coast Guard aircraft. The other interesting thing to me was that ATC communicated in Japanese to the Coast Guardand English to JAL. That is NOT supposed to happen. All ATC comms worldwide at commercial airports are to be conducted in english. English is the international language of aviation.

That said communications with military aircraft have thier own rules and it is not improper to use the local language. But if you mix the two it is possible that all parties may not understand what is being said couple that with a poor transceiver with poor modulation and you have a real problem.

The Coast Guard plane was taking off from the middle of the runway to expedite their mission. They got to thier hold short point several minutes before the the JAL flight. JAL needed the full runway and the Coast guard plane did not.

In this case normally the JAL flight should have been told to taxi into place and hold for a minute while the Coast guard plane departed. That would have been the safer thing to do. The JAL flight was a heavy aircraft and its wake turbulence would mean the coast guard flight would have to wait up to 3 minutes hefore departing.

I think in this case the ATC folks and airport issues where a huge contributing factor.

The threshold lights at the runway should not have mattered. There is striping and reflectors to clearly indicate the hold short point...assuming of course the taxi lights on the coast guard plane was functioning better than their radio.

I've listened to alot of major airport traffic over the years with my scanner. While sitting on surveillance with nothing to do. And it's amazing how bad the verbal comms is. 

You can barely understand alot of the pilots in english. And I mean "barely". Accents and ESL considered I don't know how some of these pilots are allowed to fly major aircraft into key airports around the country. 

Even the American air traffic controllers speak so quickly, in such abbreviated jargon, in such poor radio reception you can barely understand them. It's like a bad Saturday Night Live skit. It would be hilarious if not for the hundreds of lives at stake.

I'm not surprised by your report above at all.