Japan coast guard plane not cleared for takeoff before deadly runway crash, air traffic control transcript suggests

Tokyo CNN —

A Japanese coast guard aircraft which was struck by a passenger plane at Tokyo’s Haneda International Airport was instructed only to “taxi to holding point” and had not been cleared for takeoff, an official transcript of air traffic control communications released Wednesday suggests.

The fatal accident saw Japan Airlines flight 516 crash into the coast guard aircraft after touching down on the runway on Tuesday, causing it to erupt into a terrifying fireball.

All 379 people on the Japan Airlines (JAL) plane were safely evacuated in what has been hailed as a textbook response from crew and passengers. Five of the six crew members on the smaller coast guard aircraft died, according to Japanese Transport Minister Tetsuo Saito.

Saito on Wednesday released the transcript of more than four minutes of communications between air traffic controllers and the two planes immediately before the accident, which indicates the Japan Airlines flight had been given permission to land but does not show clear takeoff approval for the coast guard aircraft.

In a further development, publicly available records appeared to suggest that out-of-service warning lights – designed to stop pilots from erroneously taxiing onto the runway – could have been another factor in the crash.

The burnt-out Japan Airlines plane is pictured at Haneda airport on Wednesday.

Air traffic control gave the JAL passenger plane permission to land at 5:43:26 p.m. local time (3:43:26 a.m. ET), according to the transcript.

However, the transcript does not show clear takeoff approval for the coast guard aircraft, instead telling it to “taxi to holding point” at 5:45:11 p.m. (3:45:11 a.m. ET). The crew of the coast guard plane confirmed the instruction