Japan flights

[Jaryd stock]

I put this question to anyone.....

Regarding the airports and possible tsunami, the airport that is on the news at the moment with the wave going over the top of apron and subsequent pictures of the aftermath I noticed that no aircraft were present at any of the aerobridges or on the apron.

Were any swept away, or were they quickly towed or taxied to an area that is higher up? Remembering that they had only 15 mins between quake and when the tsunami hit.

And also to add to this long winded question. what is JASDF, and USAF's direction when a tsunami may be endangering the base they are operating from do they put everything up or what do they do?......

[Justin L]

Jaryd,

I wondered the same thing, but looking at the timetable for Sendai Airport, it seems that by the luck of it there may not have been any aircraft there at the time of the quake.

I did see a photo of some light planes crushed with cars in the car park though.

[Gareth Forwood]

There are only a handful of jetbridge gates at Sendai, and the Google satellite photo shows just 1 aircraft parked there - so it is possible that there weren't any large aircraft on the ground at the time.

Having taken the bullet train up to Sendai from Tokyo just over three weeks ago, it is surreal and frightening looking at the helicopter footage of the water sweeping through!

Originally Posted by Jaryd stock

what is JASDF, and USAF's direction when a tsunami may be endangering the base they are operating from do they put everything up or what do they do?......

I would be interested to hear answers to this, too, and not just for the bases on the Japanese mainland - what about Andrews AFB in Guam?

Justin, judging by the times on the website, if the earthquake hit at 2:45pm local, it was during what appears to be just a 20 minute window of there being no aircraft on the ground!

[Kieran Wells]

Unfortunately I don't think there will be any flights in and out of Sendai for a little bit...
http://twitpic.com/48xezy

RIP to all the victims. Our hearts are heavy for you.

[Torin Wilson]

Originally Posted by Gareth Forwood

There are only a handful of jetbridge gates at Sendai, and the Google satellite photo shows just 1 aircraft parked there - so it is possible that there weren't any large aircraft on the ground at the time.

Having taken the bullet train up to Sendai from Tokyo just over three weeks ago, it is surreal and frightening looking at the helicopter footage of the water sweeping through!



I would be interested to hear answers to this, too, and not just for the bases on the Japanese mainland - what about Andrews AFB in Guam?

Justin, judging by the times on the website, if the earthquake hit at 2:45pm local, it was during what appears to be just a 20 minute window of there being no aircraft on the ground!

Andersen AFB is on one of the higher parts of the island. The end of then runway that goes out over the sea ends at a cliff. You can drive down the side (the right hand side of the photo) at base level, but then it goes down to sea level. As you can see from the photo thats quite some height!
It'd have to be an extreme tsunami for Andersen to put everything airborne.

[David Flynn]

Does anyone have confirmation of a Govt-arranged charter flight to get Aussies out of Tokyo – routed Tokyo to Cairns then onto Sydney? It was supposed to arrive 1.15pm today...

[Torin Wilson]

[Torin Wilson]

[Dan Hammond]

WOW! Thanks for the photos Torin, It really shows the devestation!

[Justin L]

Here's some videos from YouTube on the tsunami at Sendai Airport.

From inside the terminal:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrS1ITc2yF4

Aerial footage from NHK World:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X8PxZocHHM

From CCTV footage of the aerobridges:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DSSssHxm4Y