Changes have been made to prevent future accidents.
Koreaboo
January 2, 2025 marks the one-year anniversary of a deadly collision that killed nearly all passengers aboard a plane at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport.
On 2 January 2024, an Airbus A350-900, operating Japan Airlines Flight 516 (JAL516), and a De Havilland Canada Dash 8-Q300 operated by the Japan Coast Guard (JA722A) collided. While JAL516 was landing, the aircraft collided with JA722A, causing both aircraft to catch fire. All 379 people aboard JAL516 survived the crash, but the same couldn’t be said of the Coast Guard plane. Only one of the six crew members, the captain, survived.
A Japanese government investigation determined that the Coast Guard plane had mistakenly entered the same runway as Japan Airlines Flight 516 to take off after it was scheduled to fly to Niigata to deliver humanitarian aid to people affected by the earthquake in Ishikawa and Japan. the surrounding area.
Following the crash, the Japan Transportation Safety Committee said the airport traffic controller was focused on monitoring JAL516, which was supposed to land on the same runway as the misplaced JA722A.
The accident caused all runways at Haneda Airport to be temporarily closed during the busy New Year holiday, and many flights were diverted to Narita Airport, Chubu Centrair International Airport and Kansai International Airport . In response to the tragedy, Japan Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism installed a new air traffic controller post for constant monitoring of aircraft at the airport. At several Japanese airports, brighter colors have also been introduced for the stop lines before the runway entrances. Additionally, air traffic control is no longer permitted to use the phrase “number one”, as investigation findings determined that this phrase led the Coast Guard pilot to believe he had been given permission to enter the runway .
