Description

On 12 July 2015, a Boeing 767-300ER (JA-606J) being operated by Japan Airlines on a scheduled passenger flight from Singapore Changi to Tokyo Haneda failed to follow its taxi clearance at night in normal ground visibility and attempted to take-off from a taxiway parallel to the departure runway. When ATC observed this, the controller instructed the aircraft to stop which was achieved without further event. After verifying with the flight crew that they could continue with the flight, it was re-cleared to taxi to the departure runway 20C via a new lit-centreline routing and the aircraft subsequently took off without further event.

Investigation

A Serious Incident Investigation was carried out by the Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) of the Singapore Ministry of Transport. By the time the Investigation began, CVR and FDR data had been overwritten but the QAR data retrieved by Japan Airlines was made available to the Investigation team.

It was established that the First Officer had been acting as PF and that both pilots had been in and out of Singapore four times. The Investigation did not note the overall or aircraft type flying experience of the two pilots involved or the Captain's time in command.