Japan Press Weekly

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2012 November 7 - 13 [US FORCES]

Ospreys quieter than motorbikes at night: USMC official

William J. Truax, an executive officer of the U.S. Marine Corps in Okinawa in charge of political and international affairs, on November 6 said that the probability of accidents involving Ospreys is lower than that of traffic accidents occurring in Japan.

He said this when he was meeting Kadena Town Assembly members who were visiting U.S. Camp Zukeran in Okinawa’s Kitanaka Village to demand that the USMC take the Osprey aircraft back to their homeland.

The official said: Ospreys are entitled to use the U.S. Kadena air base, too; they are excellent aircraft that do not make so much noise; their noise is lower than that of nighttime motorbikes; there isn’t anything that is 100% safe; the probability of Osprey accidents is lower than that of traffic accidents in Japan; it’s impossible to perfectly prevent accidents; and all we can do is to reduce the risk.

Tanaka Koei, Kadena Town Assembly member of the Japanese Communist Party, protested then and there against the USMC official’s remarks, saying that treating concerns about Ospreys’ safety in the same way as traffic accidents is highly problematic.