Japan Plane Crash Probe Points to Coast Guard Crew Confusion

Cockpit voice recordings released Wednesday indicate Japanese coast guard pilots wrongly thought they could enter an active runway minutes before being struck by a Japan Airlines Co. jet.

The recordings, in a report tabled by the Japan Transport Safety Board close to the first anniversary of the Jan. 2, 2024 tragedy, pointed to inconsistencies between the instructions by air traffic controllers to the pilots, and the subsequent actions by the cockpit crew.

The coast guard pilots were on a mission to help deliver aid and supplies to victims of the Jan. 1 earthquake in northwestern Japan at the time. The quake was a frequent talking point among the crew, according to the recordings.

Five of the six coast guard crew on the small De Havilland Canada Dash 8 propeller plane died when it was hit from behind by the JAL Airbus SE A350 jet, which had 379 people on board. The accident occurred at Japan’s busiest airport, Tokyo Haneda International Airport.

All passengers on the commercial jet survived, despite the ensuing fireball that engulfed the wide-body jet.

Wednesday’s report also said the safety board will look into the correlation between the accident and the role of the air traffic controller who was monitoring multiple jets at the time of the incident.