Japan Press Weekly

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2013 February 6 - 12 [US FORCES]

Flying Osprey drops water bottle outside base

An MV22 Osprey on February 5 dropped a water bottle onto an area outside the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma base after taking off. No one was injured, however.

Incidents involving falling parts and equipment from U.S. military aircraft frequently occur in Japan. It was the first time for an Osprey to drop an object during flights since their deployment to the Futenma base in October 2012.

The Japanese government the same night conveyed their concern to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo and the U.S. Marine Corps command in Okinawa, requesting that efforts be made to conduct an investigation to prevent a recurrence of such incidents.

A 71-year-old woman living next to the Futenma base where Ospreys are deployed said, “Ospreys fly overhead at low altitudes nearly every day. I shudder to imagine if the falling object had fallen upon someone.”

A 21-year-old student of Okinawa International University where a U.S. military helicopter crashed on in 2004 said, “No matter if they are Ospreys or not, we don’t want any aircraft to cause any accident.”

A 22-year-old man said, “Dropping something out of aircraft itself is a negligent act.”

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An official of the Okinawa prefectural government in charge of base issues visited U.S. Camp Zukeran (Camp Foster) on February 7 and lodged a protest with a U.S. officer handling external affairs for the Marine Corps in Okinawa over the incident.

Kohagura Ken of the Okinawa government demanded steps be taken to prevent a recurrence of such accidents, saying, “It could have been a serious event causing injury.” William Truax of the U.S. Marines in response said, “We will take all possible measures,” to prevent such accidents in the future.

Meanwhile, Ginowan City Mayor Sakima Atsushi met with the director general of the Okinawa Defense Bureau, Takeda Hiroshi, at the city government office.

In response to the mayor stating that things that would place burdens on people’s lives and inflict emotional distress should not be allowed, the director general said, “It was very regrettable that the accident occurred.”