Tokyo crash - imagery analysis
Quick comparison of the two aircraft that collided at Haneda. Shows how it was possible for the A350 to have relatively little damage immediately after the collision (collapsed nose, dent on the left wing, no damage down the left side of the fuselage).
In the absence of mm accurate radar and black boxed, analysis of the landing lights just before collision will be key.
Tokyo crash - imagery analysis
Again, someone will do a more accurate version of this, but we can see how the right wingtip of the Dash-8 is just at the nose of the A350, whilst A350's engines are larger than the diameter of the Dash8. A complete rear-end would have shown much more damage on the A350.
Likely the A350 nose hit the wing, span the Dash8 to the left and the A350 engine also just caught the wing. There's little other damage on the A350 left wing that would suggest a collision with the rear stabiliser.
Tokyo crash - imagery analysis
I lack time/skills to crop and annotate this clip which I referred to above. We can see the right wing strobe light from the Dash-8 hit the ground off, then a frame later the A350 landing light drops. About 5 frames later the explosion starts. https://youtu.be/Oy4RIvRcwUo
Tokyo crash - imagery analysis
Now there's an extended clip of the landing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NbVdIoJsHY
Seems more likely the A350 landed almost on top, with some damage on the nose from the Dash-8 propellers and the main explosion from the engines going through the wings. Must have been just to the side else even the pilot wouldn't have survived.
