The pilots of a Japanese airplane that crashed into a small plane at Tokyo Haneda Airport didn’t know their plane was on fire at first.
A flight attendant told the cockpit about the fire in the cabin, according to a Japan Airlines representative speaking to the BBC.
After that, all 379 people on Japan Airlines Flight 516 were evacuated very carefully to save their lives.
Five out of six people on the smaller coastguard plane, a Bombardier Dash-8, were killed.
“As soon as the plane landed, the pilot felt a sudden jolt and couldn’t steer the plane on the runway. ” There was a fire on the plane, but the pilots didn’t know about it at first. They found out about it from the flight attendant.
There were three people flying the plane and twelve staff helping the passengers when the problem happened. The airplane’s announcement system was broken, so the crew had to yell instructions using megaphones and their own voices.
When the cabin crew noticed that some passengers saw the fire on the plane, they told them to stay calm and stay in their seats so that it would be easier to get off the plane if needed. The announcement system didn’t work, so we made these instructions without using it.
The Japanese media said that the evacuation happened very quickly, like a miracle, in just 18 minutes. People left their bags, ran to the emergency doors, and slid out of the plane before it caught on fire.
Smoke started to come into the cabin and spread out. The flight attendants started to yell at the passengers, telling them to leave their things, take off their high heels, and put their heads down.
They worked together. “The key for all passengers to escape quickly and safely was important,” they added.
The Japanese officials said on Wednesday night that the coastguard plane was not allowed to take off from Haneda’s runway. The little airplane was supposed to bring food and medicine to places affected by an earthquake.
The pilots of the airplane said they felt a big bump when they landed, showing that the plane had crashed on Tuesday evening. Japan Airlines said this in a statement. They said their Airbus A350 also moved to the right side of the runway.
The pilots said they couldn’t see the coastguard plane, so they didn’t talk about canceling their landing.
The way people act on the Japan Airlines plane is very different from how they act in other planes during an emergency.
In 2016, a plane called Emirates Boeing 777 had a crash landing in Dubai. A video showed passengers being really disorganized, trying to grab their bags and leave the plane using emergency slides. The crew did a great job getting all the passengers off the Dubai flight safely. Thankfully, everyone, all 300 people, made it out alive.
The accident on Tuesday was the first big crash of an Airbus A350. This plane is made mostly of new, strong materials like carbon fiber-reinforced plastic.
The airplane maker is sending a group of experts to help with the investigation by the Japan Transport Safety Board.