Lessons Learned: 5 Dead, 379 Escape Tokyo Crash
In a Tokyo aircraft collision on January 2. 2024, 5 dead were aboard a Japanese Coast Guard plane.
The other airliner in the collision at Haneda Airport in Tokyo carried 379 people; all passengers escaped and the pilot of the Coast Guard plane also survived.
What caused the collision at the Tokyo airport?
A preliminary report from NBC Bay Area News quotes aviation expert Mike McCarron’s observation of human error being the cause of the Tokyo crash that happened from two planes being on the same runway. He dismissed the idea that it could have been a technical issue.
“The problem here is someone was not where they were supposed to be, clearly,” he said. “The [Japan Airlines] flight was coming in. It was apparently cleared for landing. What the coast guard plane was doing and why it was on the runway, that’s the big question right now. Did the controller make a mistake? Did the pilot of the aircraft make a mistake? Somewhere that has to be found, and they’ll take steps back to make sure that what happened doesn’t happen again.”
The aviation expert, McCarron, commented that “some passengers may report new injuries in the coming days from breathing the burning rubber, plastic and other toxins as they escaped the wreckage. He said it can sometimes take three or four days before people show symptoms.”
We will learn more as the investigation on this Tokyo crash of two planes on the same runway moves forward.
Content/photo source/credit: NBC Bay Area News, “Human error likely caused deadly Japan plane collision, aviation expert says,” by Thom Jensen, published January 2, 2024.
