A Japan Coast Guard aircraft stopped on a runway at Haneda Airport for about 40 seconds before its collision with an incoming Japan Airlines jetliner earlier this week, informed sources said Friday.
The coast guard aircraft proceeded onto the runway although it did not gain permission from an air traffic controller, according to the sources. The crew of the aircraft may not have been aware of the JAL passenger jet, which was in landing operations.
The Japan Transport Safety Board and Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department are investigating details of the accident, which killed five of the six crew members of the coast guard aircraft. In the incident, which happened on Tuesday on Runway C at the airport in Tokyo, all 379 passengers and crew members of the JAL flight evacuated from the aircraft, although 15 of them suffered injuries.