A collision between a Japan Coast Guard (JCG) aircraft and a Japan Airlines (JAL) passenger plane at Tokyo's Haneda Airport at the start of 2024 was caused by a series of human errors, a transport safety body said in an interim report.

One key factor was that both the pilot and copilot of the JCG plane mistakenly believed they had clearance to enter the runway, it said.

In the 158-page interim report compiled by the Japan Transport Safety Board and released on Wednesday, the agency also noted that the airport’s air traffic controllers failed to notice the presence of the JCG plane on the runway while the JAL plane making its descent did not spot the aircraft on the ground until just moments before the collision.