Published 1/5/2024

First Airbus A350 crash confirmed in Haneda

Shortly after touch-down, a JAL A350-900 aircraft recently collided with a De Havilland Canada Dash 8. Exact circumstances are still unknown.

Aerospace

Edited by: Grace Nehls

Senior Managing Editor, CompositesWorld and Products Finishing

The A350 collided with a DHC-8 aircraft shortly after its touch-down in Haneda. All 367 passengers and 12 crew members on-board evacuated the aircraft, but Japanese authorities have since confirmed that five of the six people on board the DHC-8 did not survive. The exact circumstances of the event are still unknown, and marks the first ever A350 hull-loss and Japan Airlines’ first accident since 1985.

The aircraft involved in the accident, registered under the number JA13XJ, was MSN 538, delivered to Japan Airlines from the production line on Nov. 10, 2021. It was powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines.

In line with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Annex 13 recommendations, Airbus says it will provide technical assistance to the Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses (BEA) of France and to the Japan Transport Safety Board (JTSB) in charge of the investigation. For this purpose, Airbus is presently dispatching a team of specialists to assist authorities.

In a report made by Aviation Week on the matter, the aircraft “was crossing the runway threshold at a normal approach speed of 122 knots and touched the ground shortly thereafter. Airport video footage shows how the aircraft was traveling down the initial part of the runway, when suddenly it appeared to hit an obstacle with large flames erupting,” collapsing the nose gear.

A JAL statement notes that no issues or irregularities were encountered, from takeoff to when the A350 pilots acknowledged and repeated the landing permission from air traffic control. Airbus says that updates will be provided as soon as consolidated information is available.

**Editor’s note: The following text is excerpted from the Aviation Week “First Airbus A350 Hull-Loss After Haneda Runway Incursion” announcement.

JL516 is the first A350 completely destroyed in an accident. The investigation could provide valuable insight into the flammability of large composite aircraft structures based on in-service experience that have so far been unavailable.

Flammability experts know composite-skinned airframes burn “inherently differently” than their aluminum counterparts, a 2012 U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory study on the subject notes. Aircraft composite material is a beneficial insulator that can help resist heat from nearby sources, such as an external fire, the study says. But those same properties make it difficult to cool down once it has heated up and present challenges for extinguishing parts of a fire that are hidden from firefighters.

Informal Boeing guidance on fighting composite aircraft fires issued after the 787 was introduced does not recommend “any major changes” from standard protocol, pointing out that “from a toxicity perspective, the composite structure during fire testing poses no greater hazard than an aluminum fuselage aircraft ... Also, note that the burn through time on the composite structure is significantly longer than with the aluminum fuselage, which may inherently provide greater safety to both the rescue fire responders and passengers in some scenarios.”