Communication records show a Japan Coast Guard airplane was not given permission to enter a runway at Haneda Airport before the deadly collision with a Japan Airlines passenger jet, the transport ministry said.

The Coast Guard and JAL had both indicated earlier that their planes were given the right of way before the Jan. 2 accident on the runway in Tokyo that killed five people.

The captain of the Coast Guard airplane who was seriously injured in the collision said he had received permission from air-traffic controllers to take off, sources told The Asahi Shimbun.

JAL officials, however, said at a news conference on the evening of Jan. 2 that it was their understanding JAL Flight 516 “had received permission to land.”

They said that before the collision, the passenger jet made a routine approach to the runway and deployed its landing gear as normal.

“We have not received any reports of any abnormalities,” a JAL official said about the aircraft or crew.

The focus of the investigation is centered on the instructions of the air-traffic controllers. The ministry on Jan. 3 indicated the fault lies with the Coast Guard plane.

According to the communication records, air-traffic controllers at 5:44:56 p.m. informed the JAL aircraft there was “no obstruction to landing on runway 34R.”

Shortly after, the JAL crew repeated the same information for confirmation.

At 5:45:11 p.m., an air-traffic controller instructed the Coast Guard aircraft, “Please drive on the ground to the runway stop position C5.”

The Coast Guard aircraft responded, “We are heading to the runway stop position C5.”

However, no further communication between the air-traffic controllers and the two aircraft was confirmed until 5:47 p.m., when the accident occurred on the runway.

According to the ministry, air-traffic controllers never gave permission for the Coast Guard aircraft to enter the runway.

The Japan Transport Safety Board, which has identified the collision as an aviation accident, is checking the recorded communications between air traffic controllers and the two planes.

Takuya Fujiwara, an aviation accident investigator with the safety board, told reporters on the afternoon of Jan. 3 that a voice recorder and the flight recorder were recovered from the wreckage of the Coast Guard plane.

Fujiwara said such recorders from the JAL plane have yet to be found.

The board began its investigation around 11 p.m. on Jan. 2 with a six-person team. It is collecting evidence from debris and parts scattered on the runway and will interview crew members and other related parties.

Fujiwara said the fires severely damaged the entire fuselages of both planes.

“We cannot give a clear answer at this time as to why they collided. We will investigate what we can and finalize our report,” he said.

Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police Department, which opened an investigation on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in death or injury, inspected the scene on Jan. 3.

According to the transport ministry, JAL Flight 516 departed New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido at 4:15 p.m. on Jan. 2.

It was attempting to land at Haneda Airport from the south when it hit the Coast Guard aircraft on Runway C at 5:47 p.m., causing both planes to catch fire.

The collision occurred while the JAL plane was still traveling at a high speed.

While in flames, the JAL plane, an Airbus A350-900, proceeded about 1,000 meters down the runway before coming to a stop, according to the ministry and other sources.

All 379 passengers and crew members on the JAL flight escaped the burning plane, but 14 suffered injuries that were not life-threatening.

Five of the six men on the Coast Guard plane were killed.

They all belonged to the 3rd Regional Coast Guard Headquarters’ Haneda Air Base, and the plane was reportedly heading to Niigata Air Base to provide relief supplies for victims of the Noto Peninsula earthquake.

According to the Tokyo Fire Department and other authorities, the fire on the Coast Guard plane was extinguished around 8:30 p.m., while the blaze on the JAL plane was put out at around 2:15 a.m.

French aircraft manufacturer Airbus said on Jan. 2 that it will soon dispatch a team of experts to assist in the accident investigation.

Airbus said it had delivered the aircraft to JAL in November 2021.

The five-member Airbus team will provide technical support to the investigation conducted by the Japan Transport Safety Board and the Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety, a French organization known as BEA.

The BEA said four of its investigators will accompany the Airbus team.

Aircraft manufacturers have increasingly replaced metal with carbon fiber for airframes to reduce weight and improve fuel efficiency.

According to Airbus, the A350 uses a high percentage of carbon fiber, and there had been no incidents of similar aircraft catching fire.

The JAL plane was 66.8 meters long, 64.75 meters wide and 17.05 meters high.

The Coast Guard aircraft was a Bombardier DHC8. It was 25.68 meters long, 27.43 meters wide and 7.49 meters high, less than half of size of the JAL plane.

The Coast Guard personnel killed in the accident were a 41-year-old co-pilot, a 27-year-old communications officer, a 39-year-old search radar officer, a 47-year-old mechanic, and a 56-year-old maintenance worker.

The captain, 39, was seriously injured with burns but was conscious when taken to a hospital.

(This article was compiled from stories written by Eishi Kado, Minami Endo, Go Takahashi, Yuji Masuyama, Shomei Nagatsuma and
Kazuyuki Ito.)