Japan Coast Guard plane not authorized to enter runway before collision: ministry

TOKYO, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Japan Coast Guard plane that collided with a Japan Airlines (JAL) passenger jet at Tokyo's Haneda airport did not have permission to enter the runway, according to flight control communications released by Japan's transport ministry on Wednesday.

Toshiyuki Onuma, senior deputy director general of the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau at the transport ministry, told reporters that there was nothing that can be regarded as permission to enter the runway for the coast guard plane in the transcripts of the communications.

The last communications between air traffic controllers and the JAL aircraft took place approximately two minutes before the collision, with them telling the JAL pilot that the runway was clear for landing and the pilot reading back that permission, according to the transcripts released by the ministry.

The captain of the coast guard plane said he had entered the runway after receiving permission, a coast guard official said, while acknowledging that there was no indication in the transcripts that he had been cleared to do so.

In a statement on Wednesday, JAL said the aircraft recognized and repeated the landing permission from air traffic control before approaching and touching down and no abnormalities were detected during the aircraft's flight.

The Japan Transport Safety Board, the government-affiliated agency in charge of probing serious accidents involving airplanes, trains and ships, examined the aircraft wreckage during the day, and has recovered the voice recorder from the coast guard aircraft.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has also launched an investigation into the accident on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in death and injury.

On Tuesday, JAL Flight 516, an Airbus A-350, was landing on Haneda's C-runway when the Japan Coast Guard Flight MA-722, a Bombardier Dash-8, collided with it, with both aircraft catching fire.

All 379 people aboard the JAL flight managed to evacuate while it was on fire without life-threatening injuries after the collision. But five of the six crew members aboard the MA-722 were killed, while the captain who escaped the wreckage was severely injured.