Japan cheats death with 379 airline passengers and crew safe after fiery runway crash

What is is about airline disasters turned miracles, and for that matter, tsunamis, happening around this time of year?

Japan got both in the last two days, but the latter story appears to be truly miraculous:

Take a look at this video and imagine the odds of anyone on it surviving:

#BREAKING | Japan Airlines aircraft in flames after collision with coast guard plane on Tokyo airport's runway#Japan #JapanAirlines #TokyoAirport #Haneda #TokyoHanedaAirport #Airplane #Airplanecrash #Tokyo #Breaking #Airplane #JapanEarthquake #JapanTsunami pic.twitter.com/Y7uDzUpdio

— Neha Bisht (@neha_bisht12) January 2, 2024

 

 

All 400 crews and passengers on board have evacuated according to NHK news. (Japanese Public TV) ЁЯЩП#Tokyo #Japan #earthquake #Tsunami pic.twitter.com/7Sm3lQQ35m

— Rahul Agarwal (@ImRa1999) January 2, 2024

 

 

BREAKING: Japan Airlines plane with 367 people on board collides with Coast Guard plane at Tokyo Airport
All of the passengers and crew on board the Japan Airlines aircraft have been evacuated.#Japan #Japanairlines pic.twitter.com/E45eqdhcwK

— UFO CHRONICLES PODCASTЁЯОЩя╕ПЁЭХП (@UFOchronpodcast) January 2, 2024

 

Turns out they all survived, 367 passengers and crew on the Sapporo-to-Tokyo Japan Airlines flight, evacuated in an orderly manner from flames and smoke like that, and now have their lives to continue living for it.

According to Axios:

All 379 passengers and crew escaped a Japan Airlines jet that became engulfed in flames on a Tokyo runway on Tuesday after colliding with a Japanese Coast Guard aircraft.

...

The big picture: Live footage showed Japan Airlines flight JAL-516 catching fire as it skidded down the tarmac after landing at Tokyo's Haneda Airport, per Reuters.

  • NHK TV reported that all occupants got out safely before the Airbus A350 was overwhelmed, despite rescue crews' efforts to control the blaze.

While it is tragic that the Japanese Coast Guard plane, bound for Niigata on Japan's west coast on a rescue or relief mission after an earthquake and tsunami had devastated the area, was not so lucky, and five crew members died, it's incredible that the passenger jet fared so well.

Obviously, this appears to be a miracle, given the scope of the jet-fueled fire and the preservation of life of all who were aboard. It's so improbable that all survived that it calls to mind the Miracle on the Hudson of 2009, where Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, after losing two jet engines to a double "bird strike" managed to use his glider pilot skills to land US Airways Flight 1549 safely on its belly in the Hudson River in the waters surrounded Manhattan with all safe.

It's too soon to know exactly what happened that all 367 in that flaming, fiery aircraft ended up safe, but obviously, the Japanese had a plan and executed it correctly, and it was aided by the cooperation of the passengers who managed an orderly exit without anyone getting into a fight, nobody pushing and shoving others to jump over first, and everyone taking orders from the crew seriously to ensure an orderly and safe exit for all.

It speaks well for the Japanese that this happened in such trying circumstances -- a collision, a night fire, a taxiing aircraft and the knowledge of a major disaster on the other side of the island. It calls to mind that the Japanese are orderly and empathetic of others, same way the Japanese fans who cleaned up the soccer stadium after their team beat Germany in the World Cup in 2022 were.

At the time, I wrote this:

The Japanese fans, at a time when they might have been expected to celebrate wildly and obnoxiously, flinging drinks and blowing Vuvuzuelas, but instead calmly cleaned up after themselves after their celebration, leaving the stadium and the locker room cleaner than they found it.

What an amazing example of social capital, and what a beautiful reminder that leaves to the rest of the world about Japan and why it is just a little better than plenty of countries and cultures. Instead of expecting someone to clean up after them, as most fans do, leaving the job to poor immigrant workers, they cleaned up after themselves, spontaneously, and entirely on a voluntary basis, taking responsibility for the celebration they celebrated.

There seems to be a parallel with the evacuation of that flame-engulfed jetliner.

For now, kudos to Japan and its immensely emulatable society, one that every other society has much to learn from.

Image: Twitter screen shot 

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