Pilots and Experts Warned of Rise in Near Collisions at Airports Before Deadly Japan Airlines Crash

Mar. 15, 2025

Five people have been reported dead after a Japan Airlines (JAL) passenger jet collided with a smaller Japan Coast Guard plane at Tokyo’s Haneda airport, according to multiple outlets includingCNNandBBC.

All 379 crew members and passengers onboard the JAL flight were safely evacuated as the plane started burning, shortly before the aircraft became completely engulfed in flames. However, five out of the six people aboard the Coast Guard plane, which was preparing to deliver earthquake aid, died in the accident, according to public broadcaster NHK, perReuters.

In August, theNew York Timesreleased a report digging into the recent increase in dangerous close calls happening between planes both in flight and on airport runways.

According to the investigation, which focused on U.S. airports,incidents involving aircrafts nearly coming into contact with one another have seen a rapid rise across the country, involving almost every airport and major airline. The investigation cited a lack of warning systems at airports coupled with a staffing shortage of air traffic controllers as some of the main contributing factors to these near-catastrophes that happen, on average, multiple times a week.

STR/JIJI PRESS/AFP via Getty Images

New York Magazinepointed out in the wake of the JAL accident, that one of the deadliest plane crashes in history took place on the ground. In 1977, two 747 passenger jets collided on a foggy runway in the Canary Islands, killing 583 of the 644 passengers and crew aboard.

“This has really opened my eyes to how the next aviation accident may play out,” a pilot wrote to NASA after preventing a collision on the runway in January, according to theTimes.

“Is it going to take people dying for something to move forward?” an air-traffic controller wrote the same month after another near miss.

The last fatal crash involving a major US airline occurred in February 2009 whena Continental flight crashed into a house outside of Buffalo, N.Y. killing all 49 people aboard the flight. The lack of collisions since the incident marks the longest period of time without a fatal crash from a major U.S. airline.

PEOPLE has reported on a number of near-misses in the last year alone.

In January 2023, for example, a Delta Air Lines plane was getting ready for take off when “air traffic controllers noticed another aircraft crossing the runway in front of the departing jetliner,” the Federal Aviation Administration saidat the time in a statement shared with PEOPLE.

Delta’s Boeing 737 managed to safely stop roughly 1,000 feet “before reaching the point” where an American Airlines Boeing 777 “had crossed from an adjacent taxiway,” says the FAA, adding that it is looking into the incident.

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According to the FAA, the Boeing 767 cargo airplane was several miles from the airport when it was cleared to land. But right before it was expected to move into the airport, an air traffic controller gave the go-ahead for a Southwest plane to take off.

To avert a crisis, the FedEx plane changed course, aborting the landing, the FAA said.

“The pilot of the FedEx airplane discontinued the landing and initiated a climb out,” the FAA reported. “The Southwest flight departed safely.”

In March, Boston Logan International Airport almost saw a collision on the tarmac whena JetBlue plane nearly crashed into a private plane.

United Airlines queue.Scott Olson / Getty Images

A major problem, theNew York Timesfound, was the lack of properly staffed air-traffic control centers.

The lack of air-traffic controllers has been a growing problem since the 1980s, says the outlet. The Reagan administration cut thousands of controllers who were on strike, and since, the department has seen departures in waves as controllers approach retirement age with no new trainees to take their place.

The pandemic also saw an exodus of employees, while health and safety measures slowed the training of new ones.

In June, the Department of Transportation’s Inspector Generalreleased a reportstating, that the “F.A.A. has made limited efforts to ensure adequate controller staffing at critical air traffic control facilities.” It found that the “F.A.A. continues to face staffing challenges and lacks a plan to address them, which in turn poses a risk to the continuity of air traffic operations.”

source: people.com