International Inferno on Tokyo runway after Japanese Coast Guard plane collides with Japan Airlines jet

[Arkain2K]

Passengers' safe escape from fiery Japan Airlines crash described as 'miracle'​

By Sheri Walsh | JAN. 3, 2024



Passengers on a Japan Airlines jet, which collided with a Japanese Coast Guard aircraft Tuesday on a Tokyo runway before bursting into flames, are describing their safe escape as a "miracle."

Five of the six people on board the Coast Guard propeller plane died as they were about to take off from Haneda Airport to help victims from Monday's earthquake. But all 367 passengers -- including eight infants -- and 12 crew members on board the Airbus A350 survived.

Only 14 people on the plane were treated for injuries.

On Wednesday, flight experts credited safety features on the plane, which was built to withstand fire, as well as a well-trained crew and well-behaved passengers, for the quick 20-minute evacuation despite facing numerous obstacles.

Japan Airlines' managing executive officer said the announcement system malfunctioned after the crash, forcing the crew to shout and use a megaphone to instruct passengers to safety.

Only three doors and evacuation slides could be used as the other exits from the plane were consumed by fire, according to Japan Airlines spokeswoman Maggie Kuwasaki.

One crew member credited the fact that it was a domestic flight, telling the Washington Post that most of the passengers shared the same language and were likely already well-trained for evacuations in preparation for common natural disasters in their country.

"It is absolutely not common for passengers to comply with instructions, though some countries do better than some of the others, mostly based on ... their sense of crisis awareness," the flight attendant said.

Experts also said a "really significant" component of the quick evacuation was that passengers left their luggage behind.

"I didn't see a single person with their luggage, not a single person," Ed Galea, a professor and leader of the Fire Safety Engineering Group at London's University of Greenwich said in an interview, after examining footage of the evacuation. "I think the crew did a miraculous job."

"It really is a miracle that they got everyone out," said Trisha Ferguson, the chief executive of the Interaction Group that designs airplane safety cards. "The crew was spectacular in their reaction times."

While most of the passengers on board the Japan Airlines jet were Japanese, Anton Deibe, a 17-year-old Swede, said he and his family could not understand the announcements and described the scene as "chaotic."

"The entire cabin was filled with smoke within a few minutes," Deibe's father, Jonas, told the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet. "We threw ourselves down on the floor. Then, the emergency doors were opened, and we threw ourselves at them."

On Wednesday, the Japan Transport Ministry revealed that the Coast Guard plane did not have permission to enter the runway on which it collided with the Japan Airlines passenger jet, according to flight control communications.

Japan Airlines has said that the plane's crew had "acknowledged and repeated the landing permission from air traffic control, and then proceeded with the approach and landing procedures" before touching down.

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reminded reporters that "The root cause of this accident is not known yet," as he offered his condolences to the families of the crew members killed on the Japan Coast Guard plane.

"They were filled with a determined sense of mission, and it is extremely regrettable and distressing what has happened to them," Kishida added. The Coast Guard crew was heading to Japan's Ishikawa prefecture, which had been hit by a powerful 7.5-magnitude earthquake on New Year's Day, killing 62 people.

The French Airbus A350, which was delivered to Japan Airlines in November 2021, is a total loss. The plane's manufacturer announced it was sending a "team of specialists" to Japan to assist in the crash investigation.

Passengers' safe escape from fiery Japan Airlines crash described as 'miracle' - UPI.com

Passengers on a Japan Airlines jet, which collided with a Coast Guard aircraft Tuesday on a Tokyo runway before bursting into flames, are describing their safe escape as a "miracle."

www.upi.com

 

[Arkain2K]

 

[Thrawn33]

Damn Coasties...

Seriously though glad it wasn't worse

 

[SakurabasEar]

Given the circumstances, it could have been many more.

Terrible tragedy

 

[ColemanwastheGOAT]

Read the thread title and thought it was a demon. Disappointed.

 

[Cajun]

Not sure the political angle but terrible stuff. Glad it wasnt worse.

 

[Andy Capp]

Not sure the political angle but terrible stuff. Glad it wasnt worse.

None, IMHO. It's just plain sad, and now there seems to be a lot of focus on assigning blame, unfortunately.

 

[Andy Capp]

Also,

*Inferno

 

[curryjunkie]

Not sure the political angle but terrible stuff. Glad it wasnt worse.

There is no political angle, as usual arkain is looking for attention...

 

[Zazen]

Why is this in the war room?

 

[LEWIS540]

Pretty sure if this was in the UK or USA (or most other countries, tbf), there'd have been high fatalities due to a few fat selfish cunts, blocking the aisles trying to save their duty free.

 

[LeonardoBjj]

- Horrible tragedie

 

[N13]

Read the thread title and thought it was a demon. Disappointed.

Did you say Demons? Don't fuck with those guys.

 

[Arkain2K]

Pretty sure if this was in the UK or USA (or most other countries, tbf), there'd have been high fatalities due to a few fat selfish cunts, blocking the aisles trying to save their duty free.

Notice how all of the passengers promptly left the plane without their luggages, as instructed.

I have zero doubt that if this was in the U.S, some dumb-ass would try to retrieve their belongings and ends up getting roasted when the plane went up in flame.

 

[LEWIS540]

Notice how all of the passengers promptly left the plane without their luggages, as instructed.

I have zero doubt that if this was in the U.S, some dumb-ass would try to retrieve their belongings and ends up getting roasted when the plane went up in flame.

Yeah, from what I read, the plane went up literally seconds after the last person was evacuated. Every second really did count in this instance.

 

[Arkain2K]

How safety rules ‘written in blood’ saved lives in Tokyo plane crash​

Analysis by Julia Buckley, CNN



Watching the footage of the Japan Airlines collision at Tokyo’s Haneda airport, it seems miraculous that anyone has emerged unscathed.

Yet while, tragically, five of six crew on the Japan Coast Guard Dash 8 plane it struck during landing on Tuesday have died, all 379 passengers and crew onboard the Airbus A350 have survived the accident.

While investigations into what happened in the incident, which saw the JAL plane erupt in a fireball, are ongoing, experts say the successful evacuation is down to a combination of modern safety standards and Japan Airlines’ own rigorous safety culture.

“From what I saw on the footage, I was surprised and relieved that everyone got out,” says Graham Braithwaite, professor of safety and accident investigation at the UK’s Cranfield University.

“It’s such a severe impact for any aircraft to have to withstand. But knowing what I know about that airline, and how much effort they put into safety and into crew training, the fact that they did do such a good job shouldn’t be such a surprise.”

In fact, it was a catastrophic accident nearly 40 years ago that helped turned Japan AIrlines into such a safe airline, he says.

On August 12, 1985, JAL flight 123 from Tokyo to Osaka crashed, killing 520 out of the 524 onboard, after a faulty repair of the tail by Boeing technicians – not the airline’s – following an earlier incident.

To this day, it is the deadliest single-aircraft accident in aviation history.

“Clearly the effect was profound on the airline,” says Braithwaite. “In a culture like Japan’s, they took that responsibility as a group and wanted to make sure nothing like that ever happened again.

“So when things go wrong, they see it in terms of how they can learn. Everything is an opportunity to improve.”

In 2005, realizing that many employees were joining the company without a memory of that accident 20 years earlier, JAL opened a space in their corporate HQ displaying parts of the wreckage, as well as stories of the crew and passengers.

“The feeling was, there are people who’ve joined our business who don’t know what it’s like to go wrong. Everyone has to understand how much effort goes into safety,” says Braithwaite.

Nearly four decades on, the crash still has a profound effect on the company mentality, he says.

“They have a very strict culture around standard operating procedures and doing everything properly. That’s one of the reasons in this case I think the crew seems to have performed so well,” he says.

While it’s not clear who was to blame for Tuesday’s crash, Braithwaite says the successful evacuation is “absolutely” a positive for Japan Airlines.

“If you want to see a reason why you should fly with them, I think this is it,” he says.

Only this week, JAL was named among the world’s safest 25 airlines in an annual listing by website Airlineratings.com.

Editor in chief Geoffrey Thomas says: “Japan Airlines has enjoyed an excellent safety (record) since 1985. However that accident was not the airline’s fault and was due to defective repair performed by Boeing.

“It is top rated as a seven-star airline by our website and has passed all the major safety audits. Also Japan’s airline safety regulator performs better on the eight oversight criteria than the world average for compliance.”

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www.cnn.com