LIFE AFTER SQ006 - Orient Aviation

Near-miss planes just 10 metres apartpreliminary investigation into the near miss of two JapanA Airlines (JAL) planes over Yaizu, 176 kilometres from Tokyo,in January, has revealed that a trainee air traffic controller and asupervisor working with him had incorrectly identified the aircraft.The jets, carrying a total of 677 passengers and crew passed within10 metres of each other.Allegedly the B747-400, Flight JL907, was ordered to descendby the controller who had mixed up the flight numbers. Whenthe Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) alarmsounded the captain made an emergency dive. Forty two peopleof the 427 on board suffered injuries ranging from bone fracturesto scalding. No one was injured on the second aircraft, a DC-10carrying 250 people.The incident was officially declared an accident by the JapanCivil Aviation Bureau of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructre andTransportation.JAL and All Nippon Airways are introducing an advancedversion of TCAS as a result of the near miss. The police havesaid they will determine whether the controllers bear criminalresponsibility after comparing the account given by CaptainMakoto Watanabe, the 41-year-old pilot of the B747, with recordsof the communications he had with the controllers.Blame and punishmentand Flight JL907A Special Correspondent in Tokyoanalyses aircraft accident culture inJapan and the disturbing role the policeplay in it.In the afternoon of January 31, two JapanAirlines (JAL) aircraft were involved in anear miss incident over Yaizu, 176 kilometres(110 miles) south-west of Tokyo. One ofthe aircraft, domestic B747-400 flight JL907 enroute to Okinawa with 427 people on board,made an emergency dive resulting in injuriesto 42 passengers and cabin attendants.Captain Makoto Watanabe promptlyturned his aircraft back to Tokyo’s HanedaAirport. The other aircraft, JAL DC-10 flightJL958 from Pusan to Tokyo with 250 on board,landed without problems at Narita Airport.In early media reports, the Japanese policewere quoted as saying they would investigatethe case to find who was responsible with aview to arresting and punishing them. UnderJapan’s laws airline accidents involving injuryor death are automatically investigatedunder the criminal code in much the sameway as road traffic accidents. Participantsare investigated as if they are involved in apotential crime for “professional negligenceresulting in injuries”. Such attitudes are deeplyrooted in Japanese society.In the case of JL 907 the police were alreadyat work. A three-man squad, notebooksat the ready, was waiting when the B747Japan Airlines: captain of near miss plane grilled by the police in the cockpit immediatelyafter he landed his aircraftlanded. They boarded, entered the cockpitand for one hour questioned the pilots, interruptingtheir post flight checks. Injuredpassengers were still on the aircraft and thepolice intervention prevented the captainand co-pilot from performing their basic andmandatory duty of making official reports onthe near miss.Witnesses said the investigators seemedto take the position that the cockpit of theB747-400 was the scene of a crime and the occupantspossible, if not probable, suspects.Later that evening the captains of the twoflights said, on union advice, that they wouldsubmit their reports to police only throughattorneys. They later gave briefings in full tocompany personnel.These events demonstrate that in Japan,the police play a dominant – some say dominating– role from the very beginning whereaccidents are concerned, taking a stance whichdiscourages openness in those involved in theincident, impedes the resolution of the technicalenquiry and jeopardises future preventionof an incident or accident.The president of the 5,400 strong JapanFederation of Flight Crew Unions and an AllNippon Airways captain, Kazuhiro Kawamoto,said by their haste in seeking to apportionblame or liability, the Haneda police actioncontravened the basic spirit of the InternationalCivil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)March 01 | Orient Aviation | 39