Japan Press Weekly

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2014 March 5 - 11 [US FORCES]

US fighter jet drops cockpit heatshield

On March 4, an F-15 fighter jet of the U.S. Kadena Air Base dropped its canopy into the sea off the coast of Okinawa Prefecture.

Mayor Toyama Hiroshi of Kadena Town, one of the three municipalities hosting the Kadena base, said, “If that accident had happened over a residential area, it could have led to a catastrophe. The accident should be taken seriously because it includes the possibility of a crash.”

The mayor also said that together with other two base-hosting municipal heads, he will make representations to the U.S. military to lodge a protest over the accident and demand a halt to flights of all F-15 fighter jets.