Des contrôleurs japonais emprisonnés pour un airprox
High court finds air traffic controllers guilty over JAL near miss accident
The Tokyo High Court has found two air traffic controllers guilty of professional negligence resulting in injury following a near miss between two Japan Airlines planes in 2001, overturning an earlier district ruling that had declared them not guilty.
The court sentenced Yasuko Momii, 39, to 18 months' imprisonment, suspended for three years, and Hideki Hachitani, 33, to one year imprisonment, also suspended for three years.
It was the first ruling in Japan holding air traffic controllers responsible for a near miss accident. Their lawyers plan to file an appeal against the ruling.
In handing down the ruling on Friday, Presiding Judge Masaru Suda said, "Aviation accidents can end up as catastrophes, instantly claiming the lives of many passengers. To ensure safety, an extremely high standard of care is demanded from air traffic controllers."
The judge accepted a causal relationship between the mix-up in flight numbers and the near miss, saying that the accident would not have occurred had the defendants provided correct air traffic instructions.
Lawyers for the pair argued that it was impossible to foresee the accident, but the court rejected their claim.
The near miss occurred above Yaizu, Shizuoka Prefecture on Jan. 31, 2001 when Japan Airlines Flight 907 from Haneda to Naha and Flight 958 from Busan to Narita Airport came dangerously close to each other. To avoid a collision, Flight 907 dived, injuring 57 passengers.
Hachitani, a trainee air traffic controller, was accused of giving directions to Flight 907 to lower its altitude when he should have issued the order to Flight 958, while Momii was accused of failing to notice the error, and both controllers were reported to public prosecutors. The pilot of Flight 907 was also reported to public prosecutors but was not charged.
In March 2006, the Tokyo District Court found both air traffic controllers not guilty, noting that while the flight numbers were mixed up, it could not be said that the mistaken instructions directly resulted in the near miss accident. However, the latest ruling held the two responsible.
In a news conference on Friday, Momii expressed disappointment at the high court's verdict.
"If air traffic controllers are made to have full responsibility, it will cause anxiety and tension among people who do the job, and will only end up threatening safety," she said. "Even if there is a mistake in directions, it is the job of air traffic controllers to form a proper response afterwards. If they start saying 'You're finished if you make a mistake' then the job would be impossible for any human to perform."
A lawyer for the pair also criticized the ruling.
"Accidents occur when various dangerous factors come together," he said. "The idea that questioning human error alone is a mistake has started to take root, but with this ruling, the clock has been turned back 10 or 20 years."
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