2001 Japan Airlines mid-air incident

The Boeing 747-446 Domestic, registration JA8904, was operating Flight 907 from Tokyo Haneda International Airport to Naha Airport with 411 passengers and 16 crew. The flight departed Haneda airport at 15:36 local time. Flight 907 was commanded by 40-year-old pilot Makoto Watanabe (渡辺 誠, Watanabe Makoto).

The McDonnell Douglas DC-10-40, registration JA8546, was operating Flight 958 from Gimhae International Airport to Narita International Airport with 237 passengers and 13 crew.[2] Flight 958 was commanded by 45-year-old pilot Tatsuyuki Akazawa (赤沢 達幸, Akazawa Tatsuyuki).

According to the flight plan, both aircraft were supposed to pass each other while 2,000 feet apart.[3]

The mid-air incident occurred as flight attendants began to serve drinks onboard Flight 907.[4] JA8904's 'Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS)‘ sounded 20 minutes after its departure[3] as the jet climbed towards 39,000 feet. The DC-10, JA8546, cruised at 37,000 feet.[2] The TCAS on both aircraft functioned correctly, a "CLIMB" instruction was annunciated for Flight 907, however the flight crew received contradicting instructions from the flight controller at the Tokyo Area Control Center in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture. Flight 907 followed an order to descend issued by the flight controller while Flight 958 descended as instructed by the TCAS, meaning that the planes remained on a collision course.

The trainee for the aerospace sector, 26-year-old[5] Hideki Hachitani (蜂谷 秀樹, Hachitani Hideki),[6] handled ten other flights at the time of the near miss. Hachitani intended to tell Flight 958 to descend. Instead, at 15:54, he told Flight 907 to descend. When the trainee noticed that JAL 958 cruised at a level altitude instead of descending, the trainee asked JAL 958 to turn right; the message did not get through to the JAL 958 pilot. The trainee's supervisor, Yasuko Momii (籾井 康子, Momii Yasuko),[7] ordered "JAL 957" to climb, intending to tell JAL 907 to climb. There was not a JAL flight 957 in the sky at the moment of the incident, but it can be inferred that by "957" she meant flight 907.[2]

The aircraft avoided collision using evasive maneuvers once they were in visual proximity, and passed within about 135 metres (443 ft) of each other.[lower-alpha 1][9] An unidentified passenger told NHK, "I have never seen a plane fly so close. I thought we were going to crash." Alex Turner, a passenger on Flight 907 and a student at Kadena High School, a school for American children with parents stationed at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa Prefecture, estimated that the avoidance maneuver lasted for two seconds.[3]

Seven passengers and two crew members of the 747 sustained serious injuries; additionally, 81 passengers and 10 crew members reported minor injuries. Some unbelted passengers, flight attendants, and drink carts hit the ceiling, dislodging some ceiling tiles.[4] The maneuver threw one boy across four rows of seats.[3] Most of the injuries to occupants consisted of bruising. The maneuvers broke the leg of a 54-year-old woman.[10][11] In addition, a drink cart spilled, scalding some passengers. No passengers on the DC-10 sustained injuries.[12] Flight 907, with the 747's cabin bearing minor damage, returned to Haneda, landing at 16:45.

JAL907 injury chart

By 18:00 on February 1, eight Flight 907 passengers remained hospitalized, while 22 injured passengers had been released. Two passengers remained hospitalized at Kamata General Hospital (蒲田総合病院). Two passengers remained hospitalized at Ichikawa No. 2 Hospital (市川第2病院). In addition, the following hospitals each had one passenger remaining: Takano Hospital (タカノ病院), Kitasato University, Horinaka Hospital (堀中病院), and Tokyo Rosai Hospital (東京労災病院).[13] All injured passengers recovered.

JAL sent apology letters to the passengers on the 747; injured passengers directly received messages, and uninjured passengers received messages via the mail.[14]

In its report on the accident, published in July 2002, the Aircraft and Railway Accidents Investigation Commission called on the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to make it clear that TCAS advisories should always take precedence over ATC instructions.[15] A similar recommendation was made three months later by Germany's accident investigation body (the BFU) in light of the Überlingen mid-air collision.[16] ICAO accepted these recommendations and amended its regulations in November 2003.[17][18]

Flight numbers 907 and 958 are still used by Japan Airlines for the same respective routes today, but are operated with a Boeing 777 and Boeing 737, respectively.

The events of the incident are documented in the final season 3 episode of the Discovery Channel documentary Aircrash Confidential.[30] The episode was first aired on 20 August 2018.

• Überlingen mid-air collision, mid-air collision in 2002 also attributed to conflicting ATC and TCAS messages
• 1996 Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision

• Aircraft and Railway Accidents Investigation Commission
  • Aircraft Accident Investigation Report (Archive)
  • (in Japanese) Aircraft Accident Investigation Report (Archive)
• Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport
  • "日本航空９０７便事故に係る書類送検に関する航空局長コメント." May 7, 2003 (15th year of Heisei). (Archive)
  • "日本航空９０７便事故に係る民事調停成立に関する　航空局長コメントについて." March 31, 2006 (18th year of Heisei) (Archive)
• Japan Airlines
  • TOKYO: JANUARY 31, 2001 - FLIGHT JL907 INCIDENT (Archive)
  • JANUARY 31 NEAR MISS - STATUS REPORT FEBRUARY 1 2001 (Archive)
  • JL907/JL958 NEAR MISS - CAPTAINS' REPORTS FEB 1 2001 (Archive)
  • JL907 (Japanese) - Contains a list of passengers injured on Japan Airlines Flight 907 (Japanese) (Archive)
• The German Midair – Lessons to be Learned
• Close Call For JAL Jets CBS News
• Japan Jet in Mid-Air Near-Miss ABC News
• A REVIEW OF JAL907/JAL958 NEAR MID-AIR COLLISION.
• ９０７便、回避後降下で被害拡大 Mainichi Shimbun