AIR CRASH RESCUE NEWS:
Febraury 2, 2001 - Japan Police Question Controllers In JAL Near-Miss
TOKYO, Japan - Police questioned two air traffic controllers on Friday amid
reports that they panicked when two airliners with nearly 700 people on board
came within 10 metres (33 ft) of each other in the skies over Japan.
The controllers, one still being trained to work in one of Japan's busiest
air corridors, apparently issued confusing instructions that included
referring to the planes by the wrong numbers, Kyodo news agency said, quoting
a Transport Ministry investigation.
At least seven crew members and one baby girl were among the 42 people
injured on Wednesday when the Japan Airlines Boeing 747 pilot yanked the
controls of the jumbo jet and dived to avoid hitting the other aircraft, a
Japan Airlines DC-10.
Police began questioning the two controllers, a 26-year-old trainee and his
32-year-old supervisor, Kyodo said. They also questioned the pilot of the
Boeing 747.
Police spokesmen declined to comment.
Japan Airlines President Isao Kaneko told a news conference his company would
cooperate fully with the investigation.
"As an airline, safety is foremost, and this incident should not have
happened," he said. "Finding out exactly what took place and preventing a
recurrence is our top priority."
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 about 180 km (112 miles) southwest of Tokyo. The pilot returned to
Tokyo's Haneda domestic airport to allow the injured to be treated.
The DC-10 was Japan Airlines Flight 958 bound from Pusan in South Korea to
Tokyo's Narita international airport. It had 237 passengers and 13 crew on
board.
TRAINEE CONTROLLER, BUSY SECTOR
Transport Ministry investigations showed the two controllers apparently
panicked as warning signals of a collision flashed on their radar screen,
Kyodo said.
The air corridor is one of the busiest in Japan, with an average of 420
flights a day, a Transport Ministry spokesman said.
"It is true that a trainee was handling this sector," he said. "But he was
being supervised by a more experienced colleague, so this should not have
been a problem."
The trainee controller twice ordered the Boeing 747 to descend, and the
DC-10, which was descending in preparation for landing, to turn southeast,
showed records from the ministry quoted by Kyodo. The two planes were flying
at about the same altitude.
At this point the supervisor took over.
She told the DC-10 Flight 958 to descend immediately, but referred to it as
"Flight 957" and the pilot, apparently thinking she was referring to another
plane did not respond.
She also told the jumbo jet, Flight 907, to ascend, but the pilot did not do
so because she had not cancelled the trainee's earlier order to descend,
Kyodo said.
When the DC-10 flight 958 pilot reported to air traffic control that a
collision alert had sounded in the cabin, the trainee controller responded:
"Roger, flight 908."
Wednesday's near-miss may also be due in part to crowded Japanese skies.
In 1999, cabin alarms warning pilots to take evasive action to avoid another
aircraft went off more than 500 times, the daily Asahi Shimbun said. A
similar figure is expected for 2000.
Few are reported as near-misses because pilots only need to report these if
they feel the planes were "dangerously close."
A ministry spokesman said he could not confirm the number of near misses in
recent years.
Japan's worst plane disaster occurred on August 12, 1985, when a Japan
Airlines Boeing 747 crashed into mountains to the northeast of Tokyo, killing
all but four of the 524 people aboard.
Japan Airlines shares closed up 1.52 percent, or 7 yen, at 469 yen. The
shares fell two percent a day earlier on news of the near-collision.
