U.S. forces hold 4-day low-altitude flight exercises in Hiroshima

Residents of northern Hiroshima were disturbed for four days from September 2 by the U.S. forces' low-altitude flight exercises.

"They must have been F-14 fighters flying at an altitude of about 300 meters. The noise was the loudest ever," said an elementary school principal in Kimita Village.

According to the liaison council of 17 municipalities in mountainous northern Hiroshima demanding an immediate halt to the low-altitude flight training, residents of six cities and three villages saw jet planes taking sharp turns and heard their sonic booms.

A representative of the liaison council said the U.S. forces may have been holding the intensive low-altitude flight training because they had to cancel some scheduled training due to the long spell of bad weather this summer. (end)