The Supreme Court has finalized the suspended sentences of two air traffic controllers convicted of professional negligence over a 2001 near miss involving two Japan Airlines jumbo jets.
They are the first air traffic controllers to be held criminally responsible for a near collision. Yasuko Momii, 41, ended up with a suspended 18-month sentence and Hideki Hachitani, 36, was given a suspended 12-month term. Both were also fired.
They had earlier been acquitted by the Tokyo District Court, but the Tokyo High Court ruled in April 2008 that they made a control error that led to the incident over the Pacific that left 57 passengers on one of the jetliners injured.