plane it struck

[Maybo]

Watching the footage of the Japan Airlines collision at Tokyo’s Haneda airport, it seems miraculous that anyone has emerged unscathed.
Yet while, tragically, five of six crew on the Japan Coast Guard Dash 8 plane it struck during landing on Tuesday have died, all 379 passengers and crew onboard the Airbus A350 have survived the accident.

Source: How safety rules ‘written in blood’ saved lives in Tokyo plane crash by Julia Buckley

Why is "it" needed?

 

[tedmc]

"It" is a dummy subject. You could write "that anyone has emerged unscathed (subject) seems miraculous". Haven't you seen "it" used like that before?

 

[Maybo]

"It" is a dummy subject. You could write "that anyone has emerged unscathed (subject) seems miraculous". Haven't you seen "it" used like that before?

Sorry, I'm referring to the bolded "it" in "it struck during landing".

 

[teechar]

"It" is a dummy subject. You could write "that anyone has emerged unscathed (subject) seems miraculous". Haven't you seen "it" used like that before?

That is incorrect. See below.

Yet while, tragically, five of six crew on the Japan Coast Guard Dash 8 plane it struck during landing on Tuesday have died, all 379 passengers and crew onboard the Airbus A350 have survived the accident.

Why is "it" needed?

In the above, "it" = "the JAL plane".
In other words, the longer version is: "Yet while, tragically, five of six crew on the Japan Coast Guard Dash 8 plane which the JAL plane struck during landing on Tuesday have died, all 379 passengers and crew onboard the Airbus A350 have survived the accident".

 

[emsr2d2]

Source: How safety rules ‘written in blood’ saved lives in Tokyo plane crash by Julia Buckley

That's not sufficient. We need the name of the publication or website in/on which that article appeared.