JAL mishaps prompt ministry review
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The Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry began inspecting airlines nationwide March 28 to check whether they had implemented safety checks in response to a series of problems involving Japan Airlines earlier this year.
In January, a JAL jetliner began its takeoff roll without clearance at New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido. In February, it was revealed that JAL jumbo cargo aircraft had been using a main-gear component designed solely for passenger planes for more than eight years.
In March, a JAL plane entered the wrong runway at South Korea's Inchon Airport after misinterpreting the controller's instructions, and flight attendants neglected to make emergency slides automatically operable on a flight from Haneda to New Chitose.
On March 22, a JAL jumbo jet lost an aluminum wing panel during a flight from Brisbane, Australia, to Narita Airport, and on March 27, a rubber seal was found to be missing from a JAL jetliner that landed at Narita Airport in the morning from Jakarta.
Teiji Iwasaki, chief of the ministry's Civil Aviation Bureau and head of the special inspection, said, "Some of the problems are mechanical. But many of them are due to human factors. It is important to check things through communications between people." (Kyodo)
国交省、JALに異例の査察
ミスが相次いでいる日本航空(JAL)に対して、国土交通省は3月28日、航空局長らが査察を行なった。
Shukan ST: April 8, 2005
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