Japan Press Weekly

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2013 July 17 - 23 [US FORCES]

US warplanes flying lower than agreed minimum safety altitude

The U.S. Forces are carrying out hedgehopping flight training exercises in violation of a Japan-U.S. agreement, a Japanese Communist Party assemblyman revealed on July 16.

JCP Hiroshima Prefectural Assembly member Tsuji Tsuneo at a news conference in the prefectural office released the analysis of a picture of a U.S. electronic warfare aircraft in flight which was taken last month in the prefecture.

Low-altitude flight analysis center representative Ono Tomohisa, who also attended the press conference, pointed out that the aircraft was flying at an altitude of about 85 meters. “That is lower than the minimum safety altitude agreed upon by the two countries, which is ‘over 150 meters in uninhabited areas.’ The analysis corroborates eyewitness testimonies that the aircraft flew through mountain passes.”

Tsuji said, “The latest documented case is the lowest in altitude among the three cases we measured so far in the prefecture. Their flight route passes directly over Sakugi Elementary School. We demand an immediate halt to such dangerous and illegal training exercises.”