TRANSCRIPT:
379 people, including 12 Australians are alive after managing to evacuate from a Japan Airlines A350 that collided with a coast guard plane while landing at Tokyo's Haneda Airport.
One of the passengers, Tsubasa Sawada, says escaping from the plane was a "miracle'.
"I can only say it was a miracle. We could have died if we were late evacuating. I want to know why this happened. Also, I don’t want to go on planes anymore.”
Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida praised the staff at Japan Airlines after what aviation experts say was a textbook evacuation.
“I would like to express my gratitude to the JAL staff, airport staff, and passengers for their calm responses that allowed all 379 crew members and passengers on the JAL plane to escape.”
Senior lecturer in Aerospace Design at the University of New South Wales, Dr Sonya Brown says when an evacuation needs to occur, the airlines aim to get everyone off in 90 seconds.
"I think it's fantastic that everyone was evacuated safely from the Airbus A350 but that is exactly going to plan. These aircraft are certified to have everyone to be able to evacuate in just 90 seconds."
Dr Brown says one key to the fast evacuation is the fact that passengers didn't attempt to retrieve their carry-on luggage which can slow down an escape and damage the inflatable escape slides.
She says if a similar evacuation was needed at an Australian airport, she's confident there would be a successful outcome with passengers and crew getting out quickly.
"We would definitely hope to see a similar outcome wherever this happened in the world and I would be very confident here in Australia we would see a similar outcome."
The Editor-in-Chief of AirlineRatings.com, Geoffrey Thomas, says the Japan Airlines cabin crew did an outstanding job.
His organisation has just named the top 25 safest airlines for 2024 with Air New Zealand at number one, followed by Qantas and Virgin Australia - and he says Japan Airlines is also on the list in 20th place.
"With all the passengers getting off using only 3 of the 8 available exits, that's an amazing feat. Very disciplined crew, given very, very clear instructions and enforcing those instructions on the passengers have got everybody off in a matter of minutes. Outstanding. So that really reinforces why they are a top quality, safe airline."
Investigators are still trying to establish why the Bombardier-built Dash 8 coast guard plane was on the runway, in the path of the A350.
The Dash 8 was bound for Niigata Airport to deliver supplies to those impacted by the major earthquake in Japan on New Year's Day which killed at least 55 people.
The coast guard pilot managed to survive but five crew members perished.
Japan's Prime Minister offered his condolences.
"These people who have passed away had carried out their jobs with a strong sense of duty and responsibility for the disaster-stricken areas and victims. This is a very unfortunate incident, and I would like to offer my sincere condolences while expressing my respect and gratitude for their sense of duty.”
