Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2012 October 3 - 9 TOP3 [US FORCES]

Ospreys break rules and fly over schools and hospitals

The U.S. Marine Corps MV22 Ospreys are flying over Okinawa, ignoring the rules agreed upon between the Japanese and U.S. governments in advance.

Nine out of the 12 aircraft temporally stationed at the U.S. Iwakuni base (Iwakuni City, Yamaguchi) on October 1 and 2 were deployed to the U.S. Futenma base (Ginowan City, Okinawa).

Before the Osprey deployment to the Futenma base, Japan and the United States made an agreement on rules over operations of the aircraft, regulating that the aircraft should “avoid flying over densely populated areas, including schools and hospitals” when approaching to and departing from the base. The rules also stipulate that flights with their twin rotors tilted should be “limited to as short a time as possible”.

However, all the 9 Ospreys passed at low altitude over many schools and hospitals before landing at the Futenma base. All of them were flying with their rotors and engines tilted for several kilometers beforehand.

As for the 3 aircraft coming in on October 2, they circled above Okinawa International University where a U.S. helicopter crashed in 2004.

The restriction on flights with rotors tilted is set in response to a warning that such flights would easily become unstable as this allows for a midway function between an airplane and a helicopter. Actually, the Osprey crashes in Morocco and in Florida occurred during that flight mode.

In addition to Ginowan, the Ospreys also flew in a tilted mode above the densely populated cities of Naha and Urazoe.

What enabled the USMC to do this is the fact that the prior rules contain many loopholes with the use of such expressions as “as much as possible” and “limited to the minimum necessary”.

The rules, regarding the planned low-altitude flight exercises on seven routes across Japan, stipulate as if the aircraft will comply with the Japanese aviation law banning low flights at an altitude below 150 meters. However, the rules actually allow flights as low as 60 meters by adding a clause that it may be unavoidable to fly below the minimum safe altitude.

As full operations of the Osprey aircraft will soon start, people fear that a restriction on nighttime and low-altitude flight training exercises, which is limited only to operationally necessary flights, may also be broken.