Air Traffic Control transcripts have been released detailing the final moments before the collision between two aircraft at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport that killed five coast guard crew.
A transcript of communication between air traffic control and two aircraft that collided and burst into flames at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport shows only the larger Japan Airlines passenger flight was given permission to use the runway where a coast guard plane was preparing for takeoff.
The Japanese Coast Guard aircraft was told to wait just short of the runway at C5. They read back the information correctly to ATC, but then proceeded to enter the runway where the JAL516 was about to land, causing a collision.
Air traffic officials gave the JAL airliner permission to land while telling the coast guard pilot to wait before entering the runway, the Transport Ministry transcript showed.
Keep in mind these are preliminary informations. Investigators are going to have to recuperate the black boxes and analyze every communication inside the cockpits and all flight instruments before releasing a detailed report.
Haneda’s three other runways reopened late Tuesday, but about 140 flights had been canceled Wednesday alone due to the closure of the runway, transport officials said.
