JAL plane makes emergency stop after veering off runway center
No injuries were reported in the incident where a Japan Airlines plane made an emergency stop after beginning its takeoff at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on April 7.PHOTO: AFP
TOKYO – A Japan Airlines plane bound for Kitakyushu made an emergency stop after beginning its takeoff at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on April 7 night, according to the transport ministry.
The 35.8-meter-wide aircraft was running nearly 30m left of the 60m-wide runway’s center line.
It ran with its left main landing gear and wing off the runway for about 300m before hitting an aviation light on the runway’s left side and coming to a stop.
The Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry and other authorities suspect the pilots mistook the runway lights for the centre line. Investigations are underway.
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According to the ministry and the airline, JAL377, a Boeing 737-800 with 80 passengers and crew on board, entered the 2,500m Runway D from Taxiway D2 at around 7.10pm on April 7. The aircraft began its run towards the north-east after air traffic control gave clearance for takeoff.
Before the emergency stop, JAL377 was not running near the white center line lights – which indicate the middle of the runway – but was instead 30m away from the center line, near the runway lights, which are also white, at the left end of the runway, according to officials.
After accelerating to between 90kmh and 130kmh, the captain and his crew noticed the leftward deviation and decided to abort takeoff.
No injuries reported
However, before coming to a stop, the aircraft hit a 70cm-long blue taxiway light, located beside taxiway D3.
No injuries were reported in the incident.
Runway D resumed operations after being closed for 50 minutes. Another aircraft took over Flight 377’s operations.
According to the ministry, Runway D had been under repair since March with some of the center line lights having been sequentially turned off. Related entities had been notified about the situation.
On April 7 night, the lights near D2 were turned off, and those from D3 onwards were lit as usual.
The captain and his crew told authorities that the centre line lights seemed darker than usual and that they saw a blue taxiway light slightly to the left ahead of the aircraft and realised it had drifted leftward.
