TOKYO, March 25, 2020—In less than a week and on March 29, Japan will commence operating a new landing route at downtown Tokyo’s Haneda International Airport with total disregard of warnings and complaints about steep aircraft ascent/descent dangers and noise from pilots and residents.
In inclement weather conditions such as strong winds, aircraft would have to descend at 3.45 degree angle, instead of the level tolerated by large aircraft pilots of 3 degrees, according to the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s website. It’s the angle that made pilots’ blood pressure shoot when they had to land at Hong Kong’s Kai Tak airport had been in operations until the early 21st century.
Local residents under the new route, under which tens of thousands of residential homes are clustered, have been objecting loudly to the new route and the steep angles. And yet, the ministry bureaucracy, with the unwavering support of prime minister Shinzo Abe, stonewalled and ignore the pleas.
Why? Tokyo has a couple of more airports, smaller in size with shorter runways but can accommodate C130 and fighter jets that the U.S. Air Force uses actively at one of them in the western side of Haneda, called Yokota. Abe does not want to upset his relationship with Donald Trump, so he had instructed the ministry bureaucrats to reject whatever objections are from any parties.
For their part, the Japanese bureaucracy does not want to impair their public image and reputation as tough, ruthless, modern samurai that administer the country’s affairs, despite the fact that it is bureaucrats’ stubborn, outdated pride that dragged Japan’s status as a global tech leader to one of many countries.
Following are what local Japanese news reports wrote in recent weeks:
‘(A)t a March 2 meeting at the ministry for airlines to address the new routes, pilots and airline administrators expressed confusion and anger over the changes, the financial daily Nikkei wrote. Officials repeatedly heard comments such as “The ministry should show a plan that’s uniform for everyone,” and “What is equipment that can’t handle the new method supposed to do?” from people in attendance.
The root of confusion is the existence of two angles of descent — 3.45 degrees and 3 degrees.
The International Civil Aviation Organization recommends planes land at a 3-degree angle to guarantee both safety and acceptable levels of noise pollution. Landing at greater than 3 degrees is permitted when there are mountains or high-rise buildings in the area, and at airports for small and medium-sized aircraft.
In its effort to reduce noise pollution in anticipation of increased flights, the transport ministry last summer announced it was considering raising the angle of descent for new routes to 3.45 degrees in good weather. This decision increased landing difficulty, but the plan was made official in December without public debate.
A pilot industry group, the International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations, voiced concern about the change in a January letter, saying the steeper angle will “potentially lead to increased occurrences of hard landings and long landings.”
These concerns appeared to prove true when, during a trial run last month, an Air Canada plane was unable to land at 3.45 degrees, and instead landed at Narita Airport, about 60 km east of central Tokyo. U.S. carrier Delta held off joining the tests as it had not finished preparing for them. Many airlines seem to have insufficient training in simulators.
However, it appears at least two Japanese airlines discovered a workaround to the situation. ANA and JAL argued to the transport ministry that if planes start to descend at more than 3.45 degrees, but from 1,500 feet finish their descent along the normal 3-degree flight path, the problems of a steep landing angle and increased noise pollution would be solved.
According to public documents requested and obtained by Nikkei, as well as sources familiar with the situation, the ministry allowed the airlines’ planes to use this approach last summer.
ANA Holdings unit ANA and JAL presented the proposed method to pilots in accordance with their agreement with the transport ministry. But overseas airlines, upon realizing this, are in a rush to follow in the two companies’ footsteps. The transport ministry lacks consistency. They stressed the need of 3.45 degree landings at the meeting on March 2. But after Kazuyoshi Akaba, the transport minister, met with pilots from ANA and JAL on March 4, the ministry said it would be possible for airlines to use the workaround method.
In this instance, too, overseas carriers were left out of the loop. Without consistent rules, airlines are unable to develop frameworks for stable operations, including fixing their landings and dealing with warning systems.
“When you need to make an emergency landing, you have to think that you’ll be moved from Haneda to another airport,” said a pilot who flies in and out of Narita Airport.
For airlines, a return to the usual landing method would be best, but the transport ministry is not planning to give up on the 3.45 degree method. While the ministry seems to be using noise pollution as an excuse for the change, some analysts say not much will change on the ground.
“It wouldn’t reduce noise more than about 2 decibels,” said Toshihito Matsui, a professor at Hokkaido University who specializes in noise pollution. “You wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.”
Instead, people familiar with the situation point to nearby U.S. military presence as the real reason for the change. Just before moving into the landing position, planes sometimes cross into the airspace of the Yokota air base. To avoid any potential collisions, incoming aircraft need to ascend to high altitudes. If ANA and JAL’s airplanes are landing differently, it could be said to be a victory over this issue.
“All I can say is that planes will cross into Yokota air space, and the Japanese side will be responsible for controlling them,” a senior transport ministry official told Nikkei, without clarifying the relationship between the U.S. military presence and the change in the angle of descent.
The new routes will increase Haneda’s annual international arrivals and departures from 60,000 to 99,000. If the transport ministry does not clear up the situation and confusion among the airlines continues, demand among tourists to come to Japan, to say nothing of Haneda’s position as an internal hub airport, may be in trouble.
Japan Times, an English daily, wrote: ‘The transport ministry said Thursday (March 13, 2020) it has completed tests for new flight paths to Haneda Airport, which involved arriving aircraft flying over central Tokyo at a low altitude for the first time.
The tests were conducted over seven days between Feb. 2 and Feb. 12. A total of 520 aircraft arrived using the new routes, the ministry said in a statement.
The government plans to officially launch the new landing routes for about three hours a day — between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. — starting on March 29. The move will accommodate 50 more international routes per day to help Haneda better compete with larger global hubs in Asia like Singapore’s Changi Airport.
Some residents are opposed to the new routes, which pass over areas including Shinagawa and Shibuya wards, due to concerns about noise and fears of parts falling from aircraft.
A government measurement showed 81 decibels at an elementary school in Minato Ward on Feb. 4, a similar volume level to that of a busy road.
To reduce the noise impact, the government plans to have aircraft use a steep 3.5 degree approach in clear weather and when there are southerly winds. In rough weather conditions, arriving planes will approach at a more standard 3-degree angle.
Hiroshi Sugie, an aviation expert and former Japan Airlines pilot, said on Thursday that the steep approach presents a challenge for pilots. It will make it more difficult to reduce the aircraft’s speed upon touchdown and increases the risk of a tail strike, where the back of the plane strikes the ground.
“From my long flight experience, Hong Kong’s old Kai Tak airport used to be the most challenging for pilots,” Sugie told reporters at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan. “But from now on, pilots from around the world will likely see Haneda as the most difficult airport in the world.”
Kiwami Omura, head of a group of residents opposing the new routes, said at the same news conference that the move using airspace over densely populated Tokyo runs counter to the global trend of avoiding such areas. Omura also noted the risk that ice or other objects could fall from the planes.
The transport ministry says it has not received strong complaints from commercial airlines over the steep approach. But an Air Canada flight had to divert to Narita Airport in Chiba Prefecture on Feb. 2 because it didn’t have approval from Canadian authorities to conduct the steep approach using the area navigation (RNAV) system, which is different from the more common Instrument Landing System (ILS), a transport ministry official said. But Canadian authorities have since then given the airline the green light, and Air Canada is preparing to use the new route from late March, the official added.
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