The Japanese coast guard aircraft which crashed into a Japanese Airlines passenger plane at Tokyo's Haneda International Airport was not cleared for takeoff. An official transcript of the air traffic control released on Wednesday reveals that the instruction given to the coast guard aircraft was to "taxi to holding point".
The terrifying incident that occurred on Tuesday in the runway claimed five coast guard crew lives. While the 379 passengers in Japan Airlines flight 516 survived miraculously. All the passengers were evacuated safely by the airline crew.
The communications between the air traffic controllers and the two planes were released by transport minister Tetsuo Saito. The communications reveal that the passenger flight was given permission to land.
According to the transcript, air traffic control gave the JAL passenger plane permission to land at 5:43:26 p.m. local time.
However, Saito told reporters that the investigation is still going on. The next step of the investigation would be to focus on the audio recording of the conversation between the coast guard pilot and flight control tower.
The Japan Transportation Safety Board (JTSB) said they had retrieved the flight and voice recorders of the coast guard aircraft. However, they are yet to retrieve from JAL plane.
Reportedly, probe is likely to take place on the runway lights as well. It is reported that the lights may have been out of service.
Meanwhile, Japan Airlines expects over $100 million losses after its plane got destroyed in the incident.
The investigation is led by Japan Transport Safety Board (JTSB). The Board is joined by 14 overseas investigators from Airbus, French and British authorities as well as one representative from the jet's engine maker Rolls Royce.
There were three pilots and 12 flight attendants on board when the incident took place. Initially when the collision took place, the pilots were unaware that their aircraft was on fire.
"Right after the plane touched down, the pilot felt a sudden shock, and lost control to stay in the runway. A fire took place but the pilots didn't recognise it in the beginning and learned about it [through the] cabin attendant," the JAL spokesperson was quoted by BBC.
