A trainee air traffic controller and his supervisor were questioned Monday in connection with a near miss involving two Japan Airlines planes on Wednesday, police said.
The 26-year-old controller and the female supervisor, 32, at the Tokyo Air Traffic Control Center in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture, told police about the instructions they gave the two planes -- JAL 907 and JAL 958 -- and explained the events that were occurring at the center at the time of the incident.
Police also investigated the controllers' track records.
The police said they will determine whether the controllers bear criminal responsibility after comparing the account of the near miss given by Makoto Watanabe, the 41-year-old pilot of JAL 907, with records of the communications he had with the controllers.
Meanwhile, the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry instructed senior staff at air traffic control centers in Tokyo, Sapporo, Fukuoka and Naha on Monday to focus on safety, ministry officials said.
They were urged to conduct reviews on whether controllers were appropriately supervising trainees and to ensure that controllers are clearly comprehending communications with the aircraft pilots.
In the meantime, on-the-spot inspections of the Boeing 747 used for Flight 907 resumed with the pilot, the copilot and two other crew members present.
In the near miss, JAL 907 nearly collided with JAL Flight 958, a DC-10 bound for Narita airport from Pusan.