- By Chie Kobayashi & Joel Guinto
- BBC Information, Japan and Singapore
Watch: Aerial footage reveals burned out shell of Japan aircraft
Pilots of a Japanese airliner that collided with a smaller aircraft at Tokyo Haneda Airport had been initially unaware that their jet was on hearth.
It was a flight attendant who knowledgeable them of the cabin hearth, a Japan Airways spokesperson instructed the BBC.
After that, the evacuation of all 379 on board Japan Airways Flight 516 proceeded with life-saving precision.
5 of six folks on board the smaller coastguard aircraft, a Bombardier Sprint-8, died.
“Proper after the aircraft touched down, the pilot felt a sudden shock, and misplaced management to remain within the runway. A hearth occurred however the pilots did not recognise it at first and discovered about it [through the] cabin attendant,” the JAL spokesperson mentioned.
There have been three pilots and 12 flight attendants on board when the incident occurred. The plane’s announcement system was broken, leaving the crew to make use of megaphones and their very own voices to shout directions.
“The very first thing cabin attendants did [after they realised there were] passengers who recognised that their aircraft was on hearth, was to make them keep calm and to not arise, which might make the escape very tough. The announcement system was unusable so these directions had been made with out it.”
Japanese media have described the evacuation as a “miraculous 18 minutes”. Passengers left their hand baggage, dashed to emergency exits and slid out of the plane earlier than it was engulfed in flames.
“[As] smoke began to come back into the cabin and unfold out… cabin attendants [began shouting] at passengers, [saying]: ‘Depart your belongings!’, ‘Take off your excessive heels’, and ‘Head down’,” mentioned the spokesperson.
Their “co-operation… was [the] key for all passengers [being able] to flee rapidly and safely”, they added.
Watch: How the Japan passenger aircraft burst into flames
In response to officers, the JAL flight was cleared to land on runway 34R at Haneda whereas the coastguard plane was instructed to “taxi to holding level C5” – a spot on the airfield’s taxiway system the place plane await permission to enter the lively runway for take-off.
The transcript reveals the coastguard plane acknowledged the decision from air visitors to taxi to the holding level – its final transmission earlier than the collision.
The transcripts seem to contradict the coastguard aircraft’s captain – the one one of many six crew to outlive – who instructed investigators he had been given permission to enter the runway which the JAL airliner was approaching.
The BBC has additionally discovered info that means the collection of lights on the related holding level could not have been working. However consultants level on the market are different visible cues like painted markings which might present the place plane wanted to cease in need of the runway.
The well-drilled scenes on the Japan Airways aircraft distinction starkly with plane evacuations that fail to strictly adhere to security protocols.
In 2016, an Emirates Boeing 777 crash landed in Dubai and video footage confirmed chaotic scenes of passengers attempting to take their baggage with them as they fled to the emergency slides. The crew had been praised for his or her efforts to evacuate passengers, and by chance all 300 on board the Dubai flight survived.
Tuesday’s incident is the primary main accident involving an Airbus A350, one among a brand new breed of plane constructed largely of superior supplies similar to carbon fibre-reinforced plastic.
The plane producer is sending a staff of specialists to help within the investigation of the Japan Transport Security Board.
