Japan Airlines assures that its plane was authorized to land

The airline, the coast guard and the Japanese Ministry of Transport are currently refusing to make further official comments on the matter, citing the ongoing investigation.

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The wreckage of flight JAL516, on a runway at Tokyo-Haneda airport, Japan, January 3, 2024. (KOKI KATAOKA / YOMIURI / AFP)

The investigation is just beginning. Investigators are looking, Wednesday, January 3, into the ground collision between two planes that occurred the day before at Tokyo-Haneda airport, which left five people dead.

Did this airliner, which arrived from Sapporo (northern Japan), have permission to land? Asked on this point on Tuesday evening during a press briefing, a Japan Airlines manager replied: “From what we understood, it had been given away.” Radio exchanges from the Tokyo-Haneda control tower, available on the LiveATC.net website, seem to support this version. “Japan 516, continue your approach”declared an air traffic controller on Tuesday at 5:43 p.m. local time (9:43 a.m. in Paris), four minutes before the collision.

The blur persists for the second device

Conversely, an air traffic controller would have asked the coast guard plane to wait away from the runway, according to the NHK television channel, citing a source within the Japanese Ministry of Transport. But, according to a coast guard official also mentioned by NHK, the commander of the aircraft declared just after the accident that he had obtained permission to take off.

Japan Airlines, the Coast Guard and the Japanese Ministry of Transport are currently refusing to make further official comments on the case, citing the ongoing investigation.


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