Air crash in Tokyo: Responsibilities and Compensation
On January 2, 2024, a fatal collision occurred on one of the runways at Tokyo’s Haneda airport, between a Japanese Coast Guard aircraft and a Japan Airlines commercial plane.
Air crash in Tokyo: the facts
Five of the six Coast Guard cutters occupying a Dash 8 tube prop died in the accident, and the sixth, the pilot, was seriously injured. Their mission was to transport humanitarian aid for the victims of the 7.6 magnitude earthquake that had shaken the Tohoku region (western coast of Japan) on the first day of the year.
However, the 367 passengers of the Airbus A350 (8 of whom were minors) and the 12 crew members of the Japanese airline survived thanks to an extraordinary evacuation and the implementation of new technologies. They all managed to escape unharmed through the forward emergency slides while the rear part caught fire, and just before the plane was completely engulfed by flames.
Air crash in Tokyo: Is the Airbus 350 in question?
The Airbus 350 is one of the most modern and advanced aircraft operating today. The first flight of the initial prototype took place in Toulouse (France) in 2013. A year later the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued the corresponding certifications, and the first examples of this model began to be marketed in 2015 with the airline Qatar Airways, which debuted with an Airbus A350-900 capable of transporting 350 people for 15,000 kilometers, and later evolved into an Airbus A350-1000, with capacity for 410 passengers and autonomy to travel 16,000 kilometers.
The Airbus A350 is the first commercial aircraft to arrive with an Automatic Emergency Descent (AED) system. In a case of depressurization where the crew stops responding due to becoming unconscious, the system is responsible for automatically descending the aircraft to a safe altitude. In addition, it is built mostly with composite materials, which reduces the weight of the aircraft, reduces fuel consumption (this is also helped by the set of Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines designed specifically for this model) and increases its autonomy and resistance to the fire.
Air crash in Tokyo: The investigation of the facts
In the coming months, the corresponding technical investigation will be carried out to elucidate the causes of the accident, with the aim of improving safety standards in the aviation sector and issuing a series of recommendations aimed at preventing a similar tragedy from occurring again. This task will be carried out by the Japanese Transportation Safety Board (JTSB) and the French Research and Analysis Agency (BEA), but other agents may also participate in it. In this case, Airbus, the European aeronautical manufacturer, has already explained in a statement that it will send a team of specialists to assist the authorities in charge of the investigation.
From what little is known so far, the collision occurred after flight 516JAL from Shin Chitose airport (Hokkaido) landed in Haneda, without adverse weather conditions or strong winds, and following the instructions of air traffic controllers. It appears, however, that the Coast Guard plane had accessed the runway without authorization, when it was supposed to remain at a holding point until the path was clear, as a result of a communication defect between the control tower and the pilot. If so, anything from human error to serious professional negligence could be at the origin of the incident.
Air Accident in Tokyo: Liability and Compensation
Independently, various judicial procedures may take place to determine civil and criminal responsibilities, when applicable, derived from the air accident, as well as the compensation that corresponds to the victims or their families.
What is undeniable is that the passengers of this commercial plane, apart from the physical injuries they suffered, suffered moments of enormous anxiety and panic. This moral damage, apart from the physical damage, could also be compensable depending on the applicable law, in which case the passengers of this flight could be entitled to receive financial compensation from the airline.
In all likelihood, the compensation regime will be different for turboprop occupants died or seriously injured as a result of an accident at work.
BCV Lex is a law firm specialized in the defense of victims of collective accidents, specifically air accidents, and particularly with international elements. You can also watch this explanatory video or read this article.
