The cabin crew of the Japan Airlines aircraft that collided with another plane and burst into flames at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport did an “incredible job” by quickly evacuating all 367 passengers, an expert said Tuesday, highlighting the importance of training.
All 379 people on JAL flight 516, including eight children under the age of two, were safely evacuated from the burning passenger plane, according to the airline. However, five people on the second aircraft, flight MA-722, a Bombardier DHC8-300, operated by the Japan Coast Guard, were killed in the rare aviation accident in Japan.
The captain of the Japan Coast Guard plane escaped but was severely injured. The JAL plane was arriving from New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido, with the collision occurring after it landed on runway C.
The coast guard aircraft was on a mission to fly to a base in Niigata Prefecture carrying supplies to support the area affected by the deadly 7.6 magnitude earthquake that hit central Japan on Monday. The coast guard aircraft was moving on the runway when it collided with the JAL plane, The Japan Times newspaper reported.
Prof. Graham Braithwaite, director of transport systems at Cranfield University in the UK, praised efforts made by the cabin crew and pilots onboard the Japanese Airlines flight. “Japan has a phenomenal record when it comes to transport safety,” Prof. Braithwaite told the BBC as he described JAL as a “world leader” in safety.
“The evacuation has been successful and it is a reminder of how much has gone into training cabin crew. “Their focus is on safety. They are the last people to evacuate the airplane and on face value, it looks like they have done an incredible job,” he said.
Speaking to reporters, officials from Japan’s trnsport ministry and Coast Guard said they were still in the process of confirming specific flight control communications between the JAL plane, the coast guard aircraft and air traffic controllers. “I have never heard of such a major collision at an airport in Japan,” said Yoshitomo Aoki, an aviation analyst, quoted as saying by The Japan Times newspaper.
