Japan plane crash: Investigators searching for voice recorder as timeline reveals plane evacuated in just 18 minutes
Investigators are searching for a voice recorder in the severely burned fuselage of a Japan Airlines (JAL) plane after a timeline was released revealing it took just 18 minutes to evacuate all 379 passengers from the stricken flight.
Transport safety officials are looking into what caused the collision between the passenger jet and a small coastguard plane on the runway at Tokyo’s Haneda airport on Tuesday.
On Saturday they used heavy machinery for a second day to remove debris of the burned Airbus A350 into a hangar to allow the runway to reopen. The wreckage from the coastguard plane has already been cleared.
The burnt-out remains of the Japan Airlines plane at Haneda airport. Pic: AP
All 379 occupants of JAL Flight 516 were safely evacuated within 18 minutes of landing as the aircraft was engulfed in flames, something experts and the media have described as “a miracle”.
The pilot of the coastguard plane survived but his five other crewmembers died.
The coastguard aircraft was on a mission to deliver relief goods to survivors of powerful earthquakes in central Japan which killed at least 100 people.
There has been speculation controllers may not have paid attention to the coastguard plane’s presence on the runway when they gave the JAL plane permission to land.
Local broadcaster NHK reported that footage from its monitoring camera at the airport showed the coastguard plane moved to the runway and stopped for about 40 seconds before the collision.
In the footage the coastguard aircraft enters the runway from the C5 taxiway, then shortly afterwards the passenger plane touches down right behind and rams into it, creating an orange fireball.
The JAL airliner, covered with flames and spewing grey smoke, continues down the runway before coming to a stop around 1km (0.62 miles) away.
The plane on fire on the runway of Haneda airport. Pic: AP
Pic: NTV/AP
A ‘miracle’ evacuation
The JAL flight crew began its emergency response but the usual cabin announcement system had malfunctioned, according to the airline, and the crew shouted into a megaphone to make sure all passengers heard their instructions.
Flight attendants urged passengers to stay calm and leave their belongings behind while making their way towards the closest of the only three usable exits – two forward ones and the third at the rear – as five others were deemed unsafe.
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Inside the Japan Airlines flight as it caught fire
A survivor’s video shows smoke filling the cabin as people grow desperate, with some shouting “please let us out!” as children begin to cry.
Many others remained calm and followed instructions to leave the burning plane on emergency chutes.
The captain ensured nobody was left behind in the cabin and was the last to leave the aircraft 18 minutes after touchdown.
Read more:
Japan plane fire: What happened
Small coastguard jet ‘wasn’t cleared for take-off’
The Japan Airlines plane is seen on fire on the runway. Pic: AP
Experts investigating minutes before collision
Experts from the Japan Transport Safety Board have secured the flight and voice data recorders from the coastguard’s Bombardier Dash-8 plane and a flight data recorder from the JAL jet to find out what happened in the last few minutes before the fatal collision.
A transcript of recorded communication at traffic control released by the transport ministry on Wednesday showed the controller told the coastguard plane to taxi to a holding position just before the runway, saying it had the number one departure priority.
The coastguard pilot repeats the instruction and then thanks them for the top slot. There was no further instruction from control allowing the coastguard to enter the runway.
The pilot told police investigators his aircraft was struck just as he powered up the engines after obtaining clearance to take off.
The small lights on the coastguard aircraft and its 40-second stop may have made it less visible to the JAL pilots and air traffic control.
NHK also said control officials may have missed an alert system for unauthorised runway entry while engaging in other operations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate against the Houthis and their Iranian “masters” after the group launched a missile attack on the country’s main international airport.
A missile fired by the group from Yemen landed near Ben Gurion Airport, causing panic among passengers in the terminal building.
“Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran,” Mr Netanyahu wrote on X. “Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”
Israeli police officers investigate the missile crater. Pic: Reuters
The missile impact left a plume of smoke and briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at the airport. Some international carriers have cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv for several days.
Four people were lightly wounded, paramedic service Magen David Adom said.
Air raid sirens went off across Israel and footage showed passengers yelling and rushing for cover.
The attack came hours before senior Israeli cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify the country’s military operations in the Gaza Strip, and as the army began calling up thousands of reserves in anticipation of a wider operation in the enclave.
Houthi military spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport.
Iran’s defence minister later told a state TV broadcaster that if the country was attacked by the US or Israel, it would target their bases, interests and forces where necessary.
Israel’s military said several attempts to intercept the missile were unsuccessful.
Air, road and rail traffic were halted after the attack, police said, though it resumed around an hour later.
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Yemen’s Houthis have been firing missiles at Israel since its war with Hamas in Gaza began on 7 October 2023, and while most have been intercepted, some have penetrated the country’s missile defence systems and caused damage.
Israel has previously struck the group in Yemen in retaliation and the US and UK have also launched strikes after the Houthis began attacking international shipping, saying it was in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war with Hamas.
The Israeli Air Force is regarded as one of the country’s most elite units.
So, when hundreds of current and former pilots call for an end to the war in Gaza to get the hostages out, Israelis take notice.
This month, 1,200 pilots caused a storm by signing an open letter arguing the war served mainly “political and personal interests and not security ones”.
The pilots’ protest letter
Part of the letter translated
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the original letter was written by “bad apples”.
But Guy Paron, a former pilot and one of those behind the letter, said the Israeli government had failed to move to phase two of the ceasefire deal with Hamas, brokered under US President Donald Trump.
That deal called for a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of all the remaining hostages. Mr Netanyahu continues to argue that the war must continue to put pressure on Hamas.
Mr Paron said the (Israeli) government “gave up or violated a signed agreement with Hamas” and “threw it to the trash”.
“You have to finish the deal, release the hostages, even if it means stopping that war,” he argued.
It’s not the first time Israeli pilots have taken up a cause. Many of them also campaigned against Mr Netanyahu’s 2023 judicial reforms.
“In this country, 1,000 Israeli Air Force pilots carry a lot of weight,” Mr Paron added.
“The Air Force historically has been the major force and game-changer in all of Israel’s wars, including this current one. The strength of the Air Force is the public’s guarantee of security.”
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UN runs out of food aid in Gaza
Anti-government campaign spreads
Now, the open letter campaign has spread to other parts of the military.
More than 15,000 people have signed, including paratroopers, armoured corps, navy, special units, cyber and medics. The list goes on.
Dr Ofer Havakuk has served 200 days during this war as a combat doctor, mostly in Gaza, and believes the government is continuing the war to stay in power.
He has also signed an open letter supporting the pilots and accused the prime minister of putting politics first.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the authors of the original letter as ‘bad apples’. Pic: AP
He said Mr Netanyahu “wants to keep his coalition working and to keep the coalition together. For him, this is the main purpose of the war”.
A ceasefire could lead to the collapse of the prime minister’s fragile far-right coalition, which is opposed to ending the war.
Threat of dismissal
The Israeli military has threatened to dismiss those who have signed protest letters.
We met a former pilot who is still an active reservist. He didn’t want to be identified and is worried he could lose his job.
“This is a price that I’m willing to pay, although it is very big for me because I’m volunteering and, as a volunteer, I want to stay on duty for as long as I can,” he told us.
The controversy over the war and the hostages is gaining momentum inside Israel’s military.
Read more:
Israel ‘starving, killing’ civilians
Seriously ill Gaza kids arrive in UK
Israeli minister called a ‘war criminal’
It is also exposing deep divisions in society at a time when there is no clear sign about how the government plans to end the war in Gaza, or when.
The renewed war in Gaza over the last year and a half followed deadly Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw around 250 taken hostage.
More than 51,000 people have been killed in Gaza during the Israeli military’s response, many of them civilians, according to the enclave’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health.
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