Details of what unfolded in the moments before Tuesday’s deadly collision between a Japan Airlines plane and a coast guard aircraft have begun to emerge, but as a formal probe gets underway, many questions remain.
Communications between the Haneda Airport control tower and the JAL jet, as well as those between the tower and the coast guard plane, paint a partial picture of the final minutes before the collision, which killed five of the six coast guard personnel on board, with the captain escaping with serious injuries.
The transcript of those communications, released by the transport ministry, shows that JAL Flight 516 had clearance to land on runway 34R (also known as Runway C), while the coast guard aircraft had been ordered to move to a holding position short of that runway. The coast guard craft acknowledges this order — but within a matter of minutes, both jets were burning after the runway collision, necessitating a “miracle” evacuation from the JAL plane carrying 379 passengers and crew.