Japan Airlines plane erupts into flames as it lands at Tokyo's Haneda Airport
 

Japan Airlines plane erupts into flames as it lands at Tokyo's Haneda Airport

All 379 people aboard a Japan Airlines (JAL) plane have escaped the burning airliner after a collision with a Coast Guard aircraft at Tokyo's Haneda airport, which killed five of the six crew on the smaller craft on Tuesday.

Live footage on public broadcaster NHK showed the JAL Airbus A350 airliner burst into flames as it skidded down the tarmac.

Video and images shared on social media showed passengers shouting inside the plane's smoke-filled cabin and running across the tarmac after escaping via an evacuation slide.
At one point a child's voice can be heard shouting: "Let us get out quickly!
Let us get out quickly!"

All 367 passengers and 12 crew were evacuated from the blazing airliner, but the fire was not extinguished until shortly after midnight, after burning for more than six hours, broadcaster TBS reported, citing the fire department.

"I was wondering what happened, and then I felt the airplane tilted to the side at the runway and felt a big bump," said Satoshi Yamake, 59, a telecommunications company worker who was on board. "The flight attendants told us to stay calm and instructed us to get off the plane."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-...port/103280258

First A350 major accident /hull loss
A350 evacuated with no losses.

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/349537

YouTube video of the incident:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKLlrtNPx9Q

No-one yet knows how the two aircraft were on the tarmac at the same time. A lucky escape for those 367 JAL passengers!

There may be a question about approval for the coast guard to line up.

Source 9news Article

The Aviation Herald says that the Dash 8 was handed off to a different tower frequency compared to the tower frequency the A350 was on.

https://www.avherald.com/h?article=5132b9fe&opt=0

Similar incident in LA in 1991

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_An...unway_disaster

First composite plane to burn? Feedback there for the manufacturers in any case...

Think Ethiopian have that honour with a 787 although they repaired it.

another reason to watch the safety video / demonstration when you are on an aircraft , and know where the exits are . apparently the rear exits were not working . or were not able to be used .

Great work from the JAL crew to get everyone off safely !
could have easily been a much worse outcome.

BBC is reporting that only 3 exits were usable during the evacuation, door L4 was certainly one of them. Imagine the cabin crew deemed L2/R2 and L3/R3 unusable due to the fire. There was a comment made early on (again in a BBC report) by one of the pax that no rear exits were available, I've surmised that he must have been seated in the forward cabin and meant that he and others around him were told to evacuate via L1/R1.

The crew followed the rule, if is red behind the door, don't open it (Fire & smoke)

I wonder if the PAX took their hand luggage

Looks like an incursion by the dash 8 based on the comms record released by the government:
17:43:02 JAL516 Tokyo Tower (control), JAL516 spot 18
Tokyo Tower JAL516, Tokyo Tower Good evening. Continue the approach to Runway 34R (Runway C). Wind 320 degrees 7 knots. There is a departure plane
17:43:12 JAL516 JAL516 Continues approach to Runway 34R
17:43:26 DAL276 Tokyo Tower, DAL276 Taxiway C. heading towards stopping position
Tokyo Tower DAL276, Tokyo Tower Good evening. Please proceed to runway stop position C1.
DAL276 Runway stop position C1 DAL276
17:44:56 Tokyo Tower JAL516 Runway 34R No problem landing. Wind 310 degrees 8 knots
17:45:01 JAL516 Runway 34R No landing problems JAL516
17:45:11 JA722A The tower is on the JA722A C taxiway.
Tokyo Tower JA722A, Tokyo Tower Good evening. 1st. Please taxi to the runway stop position on C5.
17:45:19 JA722A Head to runway stop position C5. 1st. thank you
17:45:40 JAL179 Tokyo Tower, JAL179 Running to runway stop position C1
Tokyo Tower JAL179, Tokyo Tower 3rd. Please proceed to runway stop position C1.
JAL179 Run to runway stop position C1, ready for takeoff
17:45:56 JAL166 Tokyo Tower, JAL166 spot 21
Tokyo Tower JAL166, Tokyo Tower Good evening. 2nd, continue on approach to Runway 34R. Wind 320 degrees 8 knots. There is a departure plane. Please reduce speed to 160 knots
17:46:06 JAL166 Reduced speed to 160 knots and continued approach to runway 34R. Good evening
17:47:23 Tokyo Tower JAL166, please reduce speed to minimum approach speed
JAL166 JAL166
17:47:27 3 seconds of silence

The language used appears to be a little different to standard but the may be a google translate issue. Last time I left Japan it was from Haneda and iirc stop bars were in place on at least some of the taxiways, it’s a very cluttered airport with many lights at night.

Edit : Looks like stop bars and various taxiway lights were inoperable, that will be a big factor in the “why”

NOTAM J2253/23: Tokyo Haneda International Airport (RJTT)
J2253/23 NOTAMN Q) RJJJ/QLRAS/IV/NBO/A/000/999/3533N13947E005 A) RJTT B) 2312271500 C) 2402211500 E) REF AIP SUP 225/23 ITEM TWY:2,3,4,5,6,7,10,11,12,13,33,38,44,54 TWY-CL-LGT FOR M1,R1,W11(BTN W AND R1)-U/S TWY-CL-LGT FOR E10(BEHIND SPOT 53)-PARTLY U/S TWY-CL-LGT FOR D5-U/S TWY-CL-LGT FOR A(BTN W AND A2),A(INT OF W1),A1,A2(INT OF A),W1 -PARTLY U/S TWY-CL-LGT FOR A16-U/S TWY-CL-LGT FOR K(BTN SPOT 304 AND C),R(INT OF K)-U/S TWY-CL-LGT FOR R(BTN K AND Y),R(INT OF Y)-PARTLY U/S STOP-BAR-LGT FOR C1 THRU C14-U/S TWY-CL-LGT FOR T12,T14,Q,Q1,Q2-U/S TAXIING-GUIDANCE-SIGN FOR T12,T14,Q,Q1,Q2-U/S TWY-CL-LGT FOR C(INT OF C3),C(INT OF C5)-PARTLY U/S TWY-CL-LGT FOR T(BTN T2 AND SPOT 909),T(INT OF T4),T(INT OF T6) -PARTLY U/S TWY-CL-LGT FOR C3(INT OF RWY 16L/34R)-PARTLY U/S RAPID EXIT TWY INDICATOR LGT FOR D5-U/S

That transcript is a translation to English of a translation to Japanese of the actual transcript which was in English. The actual, official transcript has been posted in several places including Av. Herald and shows a much more standard phraseology.

One reporter in a snippet shown in the UK stated that he saw not a single item of hand luggage being carried by those who evacuated.

I just read that and it is better. In my days it would have been clear to taxi for a c5 intersection departure, hold short of the runway and this would have been on ground. Aircraft would then transfer to tower on approach to the holding point where a “hold short” instruction would be repeated.

The notam indicates centreline taxiway lighting was also u/s, contributing to the possible confusion in the cockpit of the dash 8.

What is the significance of this? Isn't it normal?

I would assume people are always told not to carry/bring anything during an emergency evacuation.

Compliance with the rule has been rare in recent times where an evac occurred, so it’s significant but not surprising that in Japan compliance is the norm. Interestingly it’s been revealed overnight that most left the aircraft in the first seven minutes, it took another 11 minutes for the captain to get the remainder out who were cowering in their seats frozen in fear.

JAL was complemented on their inflight safety video regarding hand luggage.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=751326522049450

When an aircraft is certified they have to test the evacuation process/time with volunteer/paid PAX.

Is the certification time 5mins to evacuate ?

90 seconds is the certification time for most countries, that’s irrelevant to what happens in real life of course, it’s theoretical.