Nando Times

35 injured when jet maneuvers to avoid another plane

By SHIGEYOSHI KIMURA, Associated Press

TOKYO (January 31, 2001 8:27 a.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) - At least 35 people were injured Wednesday - three of them seriously - when a Japan Airlines passenger jet maneuvered suddenly at 37,000 feet to avoid the path of another airplane Wednesday.

The injured were on Japan Airlines domestic flight 907 from Tokyo's Haneda airport to Naha, on the southern Japan island of Okinawa, said Haneda spokeswoman Yuki Kobayashi.

She said the Boeing 747-400, which left for Naha late Wednesday afternoon carrying 411 passengers and 16 crew members, returned safely to Haneda after the incident. The other plane, a Japan Airlines flight from Pusan, South Korea, carrying 236 passengers, also landed safely.

The injuries were mostly bruises. But three passengers, including a 54-year-old woman with a broken leg, were in serious condition, according to Japan Airlines spokesman Takeshi Suzuki.

Two American teenagers - Meggan Wesche, 15, and Allison Ambrose, 14, both from Michigan - were hospitalized briefly before being released with minor injuries. Hospital official Yumiko Ishida said the girls were on their way to Kadena Air Base on Okinawa, where their parents are stationed.

"I express my deepest regrets," Japan Airlines Vice President Yasushi Yuasa said at a news conference.

The pilot, 40-year-old Makoto Watanabe, reported 15 minutes into the flight that a collision warning device had gone off in the cockpit and that he was taking emergency action to avoid a near miss while descending from an altitude of 37,000 feet.

Yuasa said the alarm is set to go off 25 to 40 seconds before an imminent crash if measures are not taken to change course.

According to the flight plan, the planes' courses were to cross, but with 2,000 feet between them. Yuasa said it wasn't known how close they actually came, however.

Yuasa also added that two training pilots were in the cockpit, and said it wasn't clear if Watanabe had been at the controls before the evasive action was taken.

"I have never seen a plane fly so close," an unidentified passenger told NHK, Japan's semipublic television network. "I thought we were going to crash."

Other passengers said that the plane rocked back and forth violently, then dropped suddenly.

Several passengers were taken to ambulances on stretchers, and others had bandages on their heads.

The Transport Ministry was investigating the cause of the incident.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), January 31, 2001

Answers

y ahoo

Wednesday January 31 7:51 AM ET Japan Jets in Mid-Air Near-Miss, at Least 34 Hurt

By Teruaki Ueno

TOKYO (Reuters) - At least 34 people on board a Japan Airlines Boeing 747 jumbo jet were injured on Wednesday when the pilot swerved to avoid a mid-air collision with an aircraft on a flight from South Korea, a Transport Ministry official said.

The eight men and 26 women, including at least seven crew members and one baby girl, were hurt when the pilot yanked the controls of the airliner to avoid hitting the other aircraft.

``The plane descended steeply after swaying from side to side. I thought we would crash,'' a middle-aged woman told NHK public television.

Some media reports said three women were badly hurt and could not walk without assistance. Several passengers shown leaving the aircraft appeared to have slight head injuries.

Fire department officials said at least 18 women, including a 35-year-old flight attendant who was severely injured, were taken to hospitals.

Japan Airlines flight 907, with 411 passengers and 16 crew on board, was en route to Naha on Japan's southernmost island of Okinawa when the near-miss occurred. The pilot returned to Tokyo's Haneda domestic airport to allow the injured to be treated.

Aviation authorities identified the other aircraft as Japan Airlines flight 958 bound for Tokyo's Narita international airport from Pusan in South Korea.

But a transport ministry official quoted the pilot of the other plane as saying he was not aware of the near-miss.

Japan Airlines Vice President Yasushi Yuasa apologized to those who sustained injuries.

``It is truly regrettable that many people were injured,'' he told a news conference on Wednesday evening.

One passenger on flight 907 described how people were lifted out of their seats by the force of the plane's descent, hitting the ceiling of the cabin.

Another passenger, a middle-aged man, told Fuji Television Network he saw another plane ascending fast while his plane descended suddenly.

It was not immediately clear how close the two planes came to each other.

Police said they were questioning the pilots of the two aircraft to find out why and how the near-disaster happened.

The incident took place about 180 km (112 miles) southwest of Tokyo.

In Japan's worst plane disaster, a Japan Airlines Boeing 747 jumbo jet crashed into mountains to the northeast of Tokyo, killing all but four of the 524 people aboard on August 12, 1985.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), January 31, 2001.

Nando Times

Tower mix-up blamed for near-collision of Japanese airliners

The Associated Press

TOKYO (February 3, 2001 7:36 a.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) - A mix-up by a rookie air traffic controller triggered a series of events that almost led to a collision between two airliners over central Japan, aviation officials said.

The two Japan Airlines jets, together carrying almost 700 passengers, passed as close as 33 feet from each other west of Tokyo on Wednesday. Forty-two people were injured aboard one of the planes when its pilot dived suddenly to avoid disaster.

Flight transcripts painted a picture of confusion on the ground and in the air. Tower personnel in a Tokyo suburb gave contradictory instructions. One of the pilots did not respond to orders from an air traffic controller to change course. The other disregarded evasive action called for by his on-board anti-collision system.

Civil aviation officials announced late Friday that the first - and perhaps crucial - mistake was made by an air traffic controller in his third year of training who told the wrong airplane to reduce altitude less than a minute before the close call. His supervisor countermanded the order 38 seconds later.

The two air traffic controllers told investigators Friday that they "recognized that the error was the starting point of the near-miss incident," Seiji Hirai, chief of the Transport Ministry's Air Traffic Control Division, said at a news conference.

But aviation officials did not make a definitive pronouncement on the cause or causes of the accident. That will be the job of an investigative committee set up by the ministry on Thursday. No timetable has been announced for its report.

Tokyo Police are also investigating to determine if criminal negligence was to blame for the injuries.

All of those injured were on Japan Airlines Flight 907, a Boeing 747-400 which had just taken off from Tokyo bound for the southern island of Okinawa.

Passengers, luggage and food service trays were sent crashing into the cabin ceiling when the pilot dived to avoid colliding with JAL Flight 958, a DC-10 approaching the Japanese capital from Pusan, South Korea.

The trainee air traffic controller told investigators that he decided to instruct the DC-10 to fly under the 747, which was still climbing about 15 minutes after take-off.

But he accidentally ordered the 747 to descend instead of the DC-10, bringing the craft closer together.

His supervisor later ordered the 747 to pull up. But before that she made a mistake of her own, telling "Flight 957" - by which she meant Flight 958 - to reduce altitude.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), February 03, 2001.