Highest quality footage I could find from inside and outside the Japan Airways flight 516 plane
On 2 January 2024, a runway collision occurred between Japan Airlines Flight 516, an Airbus A350-900, and a De Havilland Canada Dash 8 operated by the Japanese Coast Guard. Flight 516 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from New Chitose Airport near Sapporo, Japan, to Haneda Airport in Tokyo. While Flight 516 was landing at Haneda Airport, the two aircraft collided and caught fire. The collision killed five of the six crew onboard the Dash 8, but all 367 passengers and 12 crew were evacuated from the A350 with no loss of life.
Both aircraft were destroyed by fire following the crash, marking the first serious incident involving an A350 and the first hull loss of the type since its introduction in 2015, as well as the first hull loss by accident of an all-composite aircraft. It was both the first fatal accident and the first hull loss involving a Japan Airlines aircraft since the crash of Flight 123 in 1985.
Aircraft
The Japan Airlines (JAL) aircraft involved in the accident was an Airbus A350-941, registered as JA13XJ with manufacturer serial number 538. The aircraft was just over two years old at the time of the collision, taking its first flight on 20 September 2021, and was delivered to JAL on 10 November that same year.
The Japan Coast Guard aircraft involved was a De Havilland Canada Dash 8-300, registered as JA722A with manufacturer serial number 656. The aircraft was about 16 years old, taking its first flight in November 2007, and was delivered to the Coast Guard in March 2009. The aircraft involved had been damaged in the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami while it was parked at Sendai Airport and was the only aircraft damaged there to be repaired after the disaster.
Incident
Airport layout with the location of the runway collision and the wreckage of both aircraft.
JAL516 departed New Chitose Airport at 16:27 JST (07:27 UTC) en route to Haneda Airport.The flight landed after dark with light and variable winds, visibility greater than 10 km (6.2 mi), few clouds at 2,000 feet (610 m), and a scattered cloud layer at 9,000 feet (2,700 m).
At approximately 17:47 JST (08:47 UTC), while landing at Haneda Airport on runway 34R, Flight 516 collided with a Japan Coast Guard DHC-8-315 Dash 8, CCTV footage shows a fireball erupted from the planes, with the JAL aircraft leaving a fiery trail as it moved down the runway for about 1 km (0.62 mi) before coming to a stop. Smoke entered its cabin. Fire services arrived at the site in about three minutes, with about 100 fire engines responding.[19] According to the Tokyo Fire Department, the fire was mostly extinguished shortly after midnight,[24] by which time the plane's structure had collapsed due to the intensity of the flames.[25] The collision and subsequent fire were caught on CCTV video from Terminal 2.[26]
All 367 passengers and 12 crew members onboard JAL516 exited using three of the aircraft's eight evacuation slides located at doors 1L, 1R and 4L.[5][27] JAL said the aircraft's in-flight announcement system stopped functioning, forcing the crew to give out instructions using megaphones and their voices directly.[9] Among those onboard were eight children.[28] Two pets, a dog and a cat, were checked-in on board and died.[29] Fourteen people onboard had minor injuries,[30][31][32] with four of them being sent to a hospital.[25] It was observed that no one exited with carry-on luggage, a factor which aided smoother evacuation from the aircraft.[33] Another factor cited in the survival of those on board was that the aircraft, which is one of the first commercial models to be made of composite, carbon-fibre materials, appeared to have withstood the initial impact of the collision and fire relatively well.[27] The last person aboard the aircraft was evacuated at 18:05, 18 minutes after the landing.[20]
The Japan Coast Guard aircraft, carrying six crew members, was preparing to bring supplies to an airbase in Niigata in response to the Sea of Japan earthquake, which had occurred the day before.[19] It was one of four aircraft deployed by the government to provide help to the affected areas.[34] The captain, who reported that his aircraft had exploded following the collision,[25] survived with serious injuries, while the five remaining crew members were confirmed dead by the Tokyo Fire Department.[35][36][37][38][39] The wreckage of the Coast Guard aircraft plane was left several hundred metres from the final stopping point of the JAL plane.[40]
According to a copy of the bulletin posted by U.S. regulators, a notice to pilots in force before the accident suggested that a strip of stop lights, embedded in the tarmac as an extra safety measure, to prevent wrong turns, was out of service.[64]
