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Blog > Flight Tracking News > Major Incident >

Japan Airlines Airbus A350

collides with aircraft on
landing in Tokyo
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Chris Lomas
Updated: January 3, 2024

Japan Airlines 1ight collides with Japan

Coast Guard aircraft in Tokyo

Operations at Tokyo Haneda Airport

suspended

Accident represents ?rst hull loss of an

Airbus A350

A Japan Airlines (JL/JAL) Airbus A350 has been

involved in a serious accident at Tokyo Haneda
Airport on the evening of Tuesday, January 02,
2024. The aircraft collided with a De Havilland
Canada DHC-8-315Q operated by the Japan
Coast Guard on the runway at 17:47 local time.
A signiPcant Pre subsequently took hold, with
video footage of the PrePghting eRorts being
shared widely around online and traditional
media channels. The accident marks the Prst
hull loss of an Airbus A350 aircraft.

NHKニュース
@nhk_news · Follow

【羽田空港 日本航空の機体が炎上】
国土交通省東京空港事務所によりますと、羽田空港で
JALの旅客機から炎があがっていると聞いているが客
が搭乗しているかどうかなどはまだわからない、情報
を確認中だと話していました。
www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/2024…
#nhk_video

Watch on X

4:17 PM · Jan 2, 2024

17.5K Reply Share

Read 637 replies

Sky News · Jan 2

@SkyNews · Follow
"The tail-end has... just crashed on to the
floor."

An aircraft has caught fire on a runway at

Tokyo's Haneda airport.

trib.al/xB8hW9G

Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233

and YouTube

Watch on X

William Manzione
@wmanzione · Follow

Hi, I was on it. Everyone is safe and they are

taking us to the terminal.

4:56 PM · Jan 2, 2024

9.8K Reply Share

Read 195 replies

The aircraft involved in the accident were an

Airbus A350-941 registration JA13XJ, and a
DHC-8 registration JA722A. The Airbus A350
was just 2 years old and registered in
September 2021. The Japan Airlines aircraft
was operating Xight JL516 from Sapporo to
Tokyo.

The accident aircraft JA13XJ seen departing

Tokyo in May 2023.

Tracking Japan Airlines 0ight

JL516
We tracked JL516’s journey using ADS-B. Our
data reveals a normal Xight and approach
from takeoR to landing. JL516 departed
Sapporo Airport (CTS/RJCC) at 16:27 local time
and landed at Tokyo Haneda Airport
(HND/RJTT) at 17:47 local time.

Landing clearance was given to the jet at

08:44:30 UTC. At 08:47:32 UTC the Japan
Airlines A350 reported its position as
35.54608, 139.80063 traveling at a speed of
120 knots ground speed on Haneda’s runway
34R (also known as runway C). This coincides
with the last reported data from the Japan
Coast Guard Dash 8. The JAL A350 continued
to report ADS-B data, though no position
information, for approximately 1 minute after
the collision.

JL516’s Xight path on January 02 showed no

unusual signs

Prior to the accident, the Airbus A350 was

regularly operating Japan Airlines’ high
capacity routes between Tokyo (HND) and
Fukuoka (FUK), Okinawa (OKA), and Sapporo
(CTS).

Japanese media reports that all 379

passengers and crew from the Japan Airlines
Airbus A350 were evacuated safely.

Initial reports indicated that all crew members

of the Japan Coast Guard aircraft had died, but
NHK citing Pre department ogcials now
reports that Pve crew members were killed
with one seriously injured.

Download JL516 Flight Data

JL516 Flight Replay

Tracking JA722A
The last Mode S frame received from the Japan
Coast Guard DHC-8 aircraft was logged at
08:47:32 UTC on January 02. The aircraft was
not equipped with an ADS-B transponder. The
Coast Guard aircraft was operating a mission
to support the relief eRorts following the
earthquakes that impacted Japan on New
Year’s Day.

Flightradar24 tracks aircraft equipped only

with a Mode S transponder using
Multilateration (MLAT). The aircraft sends a
radio signal that contains the aircraft’s unique
ICAO 24 bit address, altitude, and ATC
assigned squawk. Unlike ADS-B messages,
Mode S messages do not contain the aircraft’s
position or speed. MLAT is used to calculate
the position of the aircraft based on the time
diRerence of arrival of the radio signals from
the unknown source location (the aircraft) to
the known location of Flightradar24 receivers.
MLAT positions are only possible to calculate
when multiple receivers pick up the signal
from the aircraft. In the case of JA722A, signals
were not seen by enough Flightradar24
receivers to calculate positions for the aircraft
on the ground.

The second aircraft involved in the accident,

DHC-8 JA722A

Download JA722A Mode S Data

The aircraft following JL516 on approach to

runway 34R was JL166, a Boeing 737-846
operating a Xight from Akita (AXT) to Haneda.
This aircraft commenced a go-around at 1,150
feet before diverting to Tokyo Narita Airport
(NRT).

The weather in Tokyo

The reported weather conditions were
unremarkable at the time of the accident, with
over 10 kilometers of visibility reported and
9,000 feet cloud ceiling. The accident occurred
during the hours of darkness.

Below is the METAR (airport weather report) at

the time JL516 made its approach to HND.

RJTT 020830Z VRB03KT 9999 FEW020 SCT090

08/04 Q1016 BECMG TL0900 30006KT RMK
1CU020 4AC090 A3002

How to read airport weather reports

The impact on operations at

Haneda Airport
Haneda airport suspended operations
following the accident. Looking at cancellation
data for January 02, we can identify that 123
departing Xights and 137 arriving Xights at
Haneda have been canceled as of 12:30 UTC.
This represents 19% and 21% of total
departures and arrivals respectively.

Airport operations resumed late in the evening

on 2 January. Runway 16L/34R remains closed
as of 3 January.

What remains of JA13XJ after the A350 was

consumed by Pre.

ATC communications
Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure,
Transport and Tourism released a transcript of
the air tragc control audio communications
between the aircraft and Tokyo-Haneda’s
tower on 3 January. The transcript indicates
JA722A was told to taxi to the C5 intersection
hold short point while JL516 was cleared to
land. The transcript below is a machine
translation from Japanese, so phraseology may
be non-standard. All times local.

17:43:02 JAL516 Tokyo Tower (control),

JAL516 spot 18

Tokyo JAL516, Tokyo Tower

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 DAL276, Tokyo Tower

Tower Good evening. Please
proceed to runway
stop position C1.

DAL276 Runway stop position

C1 DAL276

17:44:56 Tokyo JAL516 Runway 34R No

Tower 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 JA722A, Tokyo Tower

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 JAL179, Tokyo Tower

Tower 3rd. Please proceed to
runway stop position
C1.

JAL179 Run to runway stop

position C1, ready for
takeoR

17:45:56 JAL166 Tokyo Tower, JAL166

spot 21

Tokyo JAL166, Tokyo Tower

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 JAL166, please reduce

Tower speed to minimum
approach speed

JAL166 JAL166

17:47:27 3 seconds of silence

Cover photo: MinChan Kim, JetPhotos.

RELATED TOPICS

ACCIDENT JL-JAL TOKYO

Published: January 2, 2024

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Chris Lomas
Chris is a Commercial Pilot and lover of
all things aviation. Based in London, Chris
researches and writes articles on what’s
happening in the world of aviation for
Flightradar24.

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