‘The plane did its job’
Safety features that prevented a disaster
The evacuation of every passenger from the Japan Airlines aircraft that collided with a smaller plane yesterday seemed all the more miraculous as footage of the ensuing inferno emerged on social media.
However, instead of being down to luck, industry insiders believe the incident is proof of how modern materials and tough fire safety rules can protect passengers. The incident marks the first time an Airbus A350 has been destroyed in an accident.
The model is the first of the manufacturer’s passenger jets to be built largely from carbon fibre composites. “It’s a watershed event in aviation safety,” says Andreas Spaeth, co-host of a podcast that examines historic plane crashes. “This was an aircraft that was absolutely full. So to see everyone escape safely is a miracle. Even then, it was a fairly long time before a big fire emerged. We have never seen a fuselage made of carbon fibre burn. And the structure held up pretty well.”
The twin-engine, double-aisle A350 has been in commercial service since 2015. It is used by several international carriers for long-haul journeys, with more than 570 in operation globally, according to Airbus. Japan Airlines operates about 16 of the shorter, A350-900 planes.
Airbus says the A350 family uses lightweight and high-strength materials to reduce weight and increase fuel efficiency. These carbon fibre composites make up to 54 per cent of the overall frame, including the wings, reinforced by titanium and other metallic alloys. Like all aircraft, these materials also need to meet tough safety standards that give passengers 90 seconds to escape in the event of a fire.
The A350 came in to land at Haneda at about 5.45pm local time, before colliding with the coastguard plane just as it was touching down.
At that moment, the footage shows a large, bright orange flash. The A350 then continues to skid forward, with fire and smoke billowing from it, before coming to a stop bent forward and resting on its nose.
“This was the very first crash or burn-up of a new carbon fibre aircraft type,” explains Spaeth. “There’s the Boeing 787 and there’s the A350 being built of carbon fibre instead of aluminium. The inside also has the newest materials for seat covers, for wall covers, for carpets, all these things.
“We have stringent standards these days and, of course, normally you’d never see in real life how these materials actually behave in a big fire, so this was very much a confirmation that the standards actually do what they’re supposed to do. We saw many cases in the 1980s and the 1990s where, once an aircraft was on fire, it almost always spread very quickly. But if you watch today, it took a surprisingly long time before the whole plane was on fire.”
Jan-arwed Richter, founder of the JACDEC Flight Safety Bureau in Germany, agrees: “Every modern-day aircraft is designed, manufactured and certified to allow a safe evacuation in 90 seconds. Today’s accident proved this concept does work.”
Steve Ganyard, a former fighter pilot for the US marine corps, told ABC News: “I think this is going to come down to human error.
“The airplane did its job here.” Many experts have also credited cabin crew for getting passengers out quickly. Dai Whittingham, of the UK Flight Safety Committee, told Sky News: “It is a remarkable outcome and I think there are some people who have been particularly lucky. The message here is: if anything like this happens to you, you have a chance and one priority, which is to get yourself off.”