The captain of a plane that collided with a Japan Airlines jet said he was cleared for takeoff, but air-traffic-control transcripts tell a different story

• We now have a better sense of what may have caused the Japan Airlines crash in Tokyo.
• A Japanese coast-guard aircraft that the passenger jet hit while landing wasn't cleared to take off.
• Transcripts from just before the crash appear to contradict the coast-guard pilot's claim.

A coast-guard aircraft that collided with a Japan Airlines passenger jet this week wasn't cleared for takeoff, according to an air-traffic-control transcript detailing the moments before the crash.