Japan Press Weekly

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2013 April 10 - 16 [US FORCES]

US Ospreys continue to fly over Okinawa’s residential areas

U.S. Marine Corps Osprey transport aircraft, which are deployed in Okinawa, have been flying over residential areas repeatedly in defiance of a Japan-U.S. agreement.

Okinawa’s Nago City government on April 8 published a map of Ospreys’ flight training routes in the city and data on their noise levels. The city authorities have recorded the routes and the noise by visually observing their drills and hearing from local residents since last October’s deployment of the aircraft to the prefecture.

Nago City hosts U.S. Camp Schwab. The Japanese and American administrations are now trying to relocate the U.S. Futenma base in Okinawa’s Ginowan City to the Henoko district in Nago City.

The map shows that Ospreys have been making circular flights in their helicopter mode over public elementary and junior high schools in the Toyohara district, as well as over a technical college and a foster home in the Henoko district.

According to the noise data on U.S. aircraft, including Ospreys, noise levels at more than 80 decibels, which are equivalent to that inside a subway train, have been recorded many times at five monitoring points in the city. A more than 90 decibel noise level, which is equal to that in a large factory, was also recorded at community centers in November last year and this March.

The city has received a lot of complaints from its citizens such as, “The class is frequently interrupted due to those flight drills.” A city official in charge of military bases said that the bilateral agreement to restrict Ospreys’ flights above schools and housing areas is totally disregarded.