Japan Press Weekly

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2008 October 29 - November 4 [OKINAWA]

U.S. airplane that crashed failed to report flight schedule

The Transport Ministry revealed on October 29 that the U.S. Forces failed to submit a flight schedule for a small U.S. military airplane, which made an emergency landing and burst into flames on October 24 in Nago City, Okinawa Prefecture after it took off from the U.S. Kadena Air Base.

Article 97 of the Aviation Law requires aircraft to notify the transport minister of their flight schedule.

The Transport Ministry said that the airplane violated the law since U.S. military planes are not exempt from the obligation to comply with it.

Nago Assembly adopts resolution

The Nago City Assembly adopted a unanimous resolution on October 29 calling for a thorough investigation into the accident.

The resolution states that the accident could have led to a disaster involving local residents because it occurred in an area very close to a residential area and an elementary school. “The psychological impact that the accident had on residents and children who witnessed it is tremendous,” states the resolution, calling for a halt to flights over local residential areas by aircraft that belong to the Kadena Aero Club.

It also criticized the U.S. forces for taking the airplane back to the Kadena Base when the local police wanted to seize the plane for purpose of investigation, claiming that it has the authority to do so based on the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). The resolution calls for a drastic revision of the SOFA.

JCP protests against accident

On the same day, representatives of the Japanese Communist Party Okinawa Prefectural Committee visited the Foreign Ministry Okinawa Office and the Okinawa Defense Bureau to demand that the government thoroughly investigate the accident and make public all the facts.

House of Representatives member Akamine Seiken, who is also the JCP Okinawa Committee chair, said, “Investigations continue to be led by the U.S. forces. Nothing has been improved,” although the Japanese and U.S. governments in 2005 adopted a new guideline on aircraft accidents that occurred outside of bases after a U.S. helicopter crashed at the Okinawa International University in 2004.

Foreign Minister Okinawa Office Vice Director Kuno Kazuhiro responded to Akamine saying that the investigation “has no problem based on the SOFA.”