A Japan Airlines aircraft was forced to abort takeoff after likely mistaking runway lights for the centre line and hitting some of them.
Flight JAL377 carrying 80 passengers began its takeoff at the Tokyo-Haneda Airport at 7.10pm local time on Monday after obtaining clearance from air traffic control.
The plane bound for Kitakyushu in western Japan veered significantly off the runway’s centre line and made an emergency stop after the crew noticed it was running nearly 30m to the left.
The takeoff roll was not aligned with the centre line, marked by white lights. Instead, it was running close to the edge of the runway, The Japan News reported, citing the transport ministry and the airline.
Its left main landing gear and wing partially off the paved surface, the aircraft continued running for about 300m before striking lights on the runway’s left edge.
The transport ministry said an investigation had been launched.
An inspection revealed that several of the runway lights, white like those of the centre line, had been damaged.
The flight was aborted after the captain and his crew noticed the leftward deviation and decided to return to the parking lot.
The passengers were deboarded and later flown to their final destination on a separate Japan Airlines flight at around 12am, more than five hours after the scheduled departure time.
Flights on the runway where the incident happened were suspected for about 50 minutes.
Authorities reportedly revealed the runway had been undergoing maintenance since last month, with some of the centre line lights sequentially turned off.
The Independent has reached out to Japan Airlines for comment.
In January last year, a Japan Airlines plane was completely charred, with only its wings intact, after it collided with a Japan Coast Guard plane at the Haneda airport, killing five people. All fatalities were caused on the coast guard plane.
