UPDATE 2 Â – Japan Airlines (JAL) suffered its first air accident in almost 39 years when a two-year-old Airbus A350-900 collided with a Coast Guard De Havilland Canada Dash 8 on landing at Tokyo Haneda on January 2. All 379 occupants of the Airbus escaped, while five of the six occupants of the Dash 8 were killed. The accident is the first hull loss of an A350.Â
Flight JAL516 was operating on a domestic service from Sapporo to Haneda and had just touched down on runway 34R at 5.47 pm local time. The A350 slammed into the Dash 8 which was stationary near taxiway C5 next to the active runway, waiting to be cleared for departure. The crew was to assist in the area that was struck by the severe earthquake on January 1. The investigation has to determine how exactly the aircraft came onto a collision course.
Active as a journalist since 1987, with a background in newspapers, magazines, and a regional news station, Richard has been covering commercial aviation on a freelance basis since late 2016.
Richard is contributing to AirInsight since December 2018. He also writes for Airliner World, Aviation News, Piloot & Vliegtuig, and Luchtvaartnieuws Magazine. Twitter: @rschuur_aero.
