Japan Airlines flight 516 was a sh hop domestic flight that ended in a dramatic rescue and the unfortunate death of five people who were on a mission to deliver Aid after the horrific earthquake in Japan on New Year's Day 2024 this is an evolving story and the details will change as we know more the Japan Airlines flight was an Airbus a350 a wide bodied twin engine airplane the plane was a regularly scheduled flight from sapporo's New ch airport to Tokyo's haneda airport it departed saporo airport at 4:27 p. m. local time the flight between the two cities is 1 hour 25 minutes long the reported weather at Tokyo was unremarkable at the time of the accident with over 10 km of visibility reported and with a cloud ceiling of 9,000 ft at haneda airport a Japan Coast Guard's Bombardier -8 Was preparing to take off for nikata to assist with the ongoing rescue efforts after the Japanese earthquake a day earlier the Bombardier had a crew of six on board unfortunately only the pilot Will Survive back to the Japan Airlines flight at 5:43 p.
m. local time the plane turned right and lined up with Runway 34 right ready for the Final Approach it was clear to land at 544 p. m.
local time initial reports indicate that the coast guards -8 was pass to taxi and hole behind the runway line for Runway 34 right the plane was reportedly not equipped with an adsb transponder which helps other planes know its position the Bombardier reportedly entered the active Runway due to it being at night it is also likely that the controller did not spot the mistake the Airbus a350 is a physically much larger plane compared to the dash8 and it is unlikely that the crew even spotted the small plane given it was the night they would have just been seeing lights everywhere and the dash8 itself would have just been a couple more lights on the runway at 547 p. m.
