planes

Five people were killed when a smaller government plane on the runway was hit by the Airbus A350, but all 379 people — including 12 Australians — on the flight arriving from the city of Sapporo made it out alive moments before flames took hold of the plane.

This is what we know about what led to the crash and how everyone on the commercial aircraft survived.

How did the crash happen?

The eco-friendly aircraft has a hydrogen fuel cell at its core and energy-absorbing brakes that draw in reusable power on landing.

The energy-absorbing brakes and hybrid engines are designed to reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions, plus having less fuel to carry around should reduce costs for airlines.

eastJet's engineering director Ian Davies came up with the concept and enlisted the help of students at Cranfield University to put the prototype designs together.