Near miss in Japan

The late takeoff of a Japanese Jet almost caused a fatal disaster at Taoyuan International Airport when it could have collided with a China Airlines 747.

The Japan Asia Airways jet was preparing for takeoff whilst at the same time the 747 was preparing to land on the same runway.

The engine of the JAA shut off which resulted in a delayed takeoff which the China Airlines jet wasn’t notified of straight away and hence began its descent onto the runway.

It wasn’t until the Boeing was approximately 200 metres away from the JAA jet that the control tower notified them of the delay in takeoff. The landing gear was pulled up and an almost certain fatal accident was averted.

Lack of pilot experience on the behalf of JAA’s pilot and the slow response from the control tower to notify the 747 of the change in circumstances were to blame for this incident.