Editorial: System to ensure no more plane collisions at airports needed after Tokyo crash

The site where a Japan Airlines Co. aircraft collided with a Japan Coast Guard plane is seen at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Jan. 3, 2024. (Mainichi)

It has been a week since a Japan Airlines Co. (JAL) jetliner collided with a Japan Coast Guard (JCG) plane at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, with both aircraft bursting into flames, leaving five coast guard crew members dead.

A system to avert a worst-case scenario even in the event of multiple mistakes must be bolstered. This is all the more the case with airplanes, as an accident could lead to a massive disaster.

The circumstances leading up to the accident have gradually become clear.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has released the communication records between the airport traffic controller and the two aircraft. The ground controller instructed the JAL jet to continue with its landing.

The controller told the coast guard plane that it was first in line for takeoff and instructed it to taxi to the stop line before the runway. The coast guard crew repeated the directive, according to the records.

However, the coast guard plane entered the runway without the controller’s clearance before colliding with the incoming JAL jet.

The pilot of the coast guard plane reportedly claimed, “I entered (the runway) after being given clearance,” and, “I received permission to take off.” There is a strong possibility that the pilot may have mistaken the controller’s guidance.

The JCG plane was about to transport relief supplies to areas affected by the powerful earthquake that struck the Noto Peninsula in central Japan on New Year’s Day, but its departure was delayed.

The coast guard aircraft had stopped on the runway for about 40 seconds. Yet neither the JAL pilot nor the ground controller noticed this.

In the control tower, the locations of planes at the airport are displayed on monitors. If an aircraft mistakenly enters a runway, the color on the monitor changes to raise the alarm.

After speaking with the coast guard plane, the ground controller communicated with another two aircraft for about two minutes prior to the JAL-JCG collision.

Authorities need to closely examine the circumstances at the time to identify the problems.

Accidents and trouble attributable to miscommunication between the control tower and aircraft have occurred in the past both in Japan and abroad. In 1977, two planes collided with each other at an airport on an island off West Africa, leaving 583 people dead.

Haneda is one of the world’s most congested airports, with aircraft touching down and taking off nonstop.

To prevent multiple planes from making their way onto the same runway, improvements must be made to all aspects such as equipment and technology, as well as the air traffic control system.

A system to prevent accidents needs to be developed on the assumption that human error could take place.