Japan Investigates Cause of Airplane Fire at Haneda Airport

SEAToday.com, Tokyo - Japan's Transport Minister Tetsuo Saito has released a transcript of communications between Haneda Airport's Air Traffic Control tower, JAL516 and a Japan Coast Guard aircraft in the four minutes before the accident on Wednesday (1/3). The official transcript shows that the air traffic control tower gave permission for JAL516, carrying 379 passengers and crew, to land on runway 34R at about 17:43:26 local time.

However, the transcript does not show a clear takeoff clearance for the Japan Coast Guard aircraft. At that time, the air traffic controllers only instructed the aircraft to "taxi to holding point," which means to slowly move to the holding area, not to enter the runway, at around 17:45:11 local time.

In addition, preliminary investigation results also showed that the warning lights installed on the runway or the runway stop bar were not working at the time of the incident. However, Transport Minister Saito said that the incident is still under investigation.