Japan plane crash: why the jet didn’t explode on impact – explainer

Experts have been examining how all passenger and crew on board the Japan Airlines flight to Haneda managed to escape alive

After all 379 passengers and crew on a Japan Airlines jet that crashed into another plane at a Tokyo airport escaped the burning aircraft, experts have examined how they managed to get out mostly unharmed, and said that low fuel levels likely prevented an explosion.

At about 5:45pm on Tuesday evening, JAL flight 516 – an Airbus A350-900 that departed the northern city of Sapporo about an hour and a half earlier – collided with a coast guard plane when landing at Haneda airport, killing five of the six onboard the smaller Dash 8 aircraft.

Continue reading...