An Atlas Air Boeing 747-400F made an emergency landing at Tokyo Narita Airport around 1:10 a.m. on August 13, 2024. As a result, the airport’s runway 16R/34L was closed until around 8 a.m. in the morning.
The aircraft registered N404KZ took off from Narita Airport’s runway 16R bound for Los Angeles as flight 5Y7106 at 9:39 p.m. on August 12, 2024, before turning around and making an emergency landing on the same runway about three and a half hours later. According to local media reports, the aircraft encountered issues with its hydraulic system and some of its tires were ruptured and wheels damaged upon landing.
At the time of the incident, seven crew members were on the aircraft. None of them were injured.
The aircraft involved in the incident remains on the ground at Tokyo Narita and the flight has not been operated by a substitute aircraft as of the time of publishing this article.
As the incident happened in the middle of the night and the runway reopened in the morning, operations at Tokyo Narita were not significantly disrupted due to the incident.
That said, JAL’s Tokyo Narita – Frankfurt flight made a refueling stop at Tokyo Haneda, presumably as a precautionary measure in case runway 16R/34L remained closed at the time of its departure. Narita’s other runway, 16L/34R is shorter and thus might not have been sufficient for the fully fueled aircraft to take-off ahead of its 13+ hour flight.
