Saturday, January 06, 2018

Bell AH-1Z Viper, United States Marine Corps: Incident occurred January 08, 2018 in Yomitan Village, Okinawa Prefecture -and- Bell UH-1Y Venom, US Marine Corps (USMC), 1st MAW: Incident occurred January 06, 2018 on Ikei Island, Uruma City, Okinawa Prefecture



A U.S. military helicopter made an emergency landing Monday in Japan's Okinawa islands, the second such incident in three days.

A Marine Corps AH-1 attack helicopter with two people aboard landed in a field at a waste disposal site in the town of Yomitan on Okinawa's main island, according to Japanese media reports. No injuries were reported.

Photos showed an apparently intact helicopter parked in a grassy area.

The U.S. side told police that a warning light had indicated a problem with the aircraft, public broadcaster NHK said.

A Marines Corps UH-1Y helicopter made an emergency landing on a beach in Okinawa on Saturday because its rotor appeared to be spinning too fast. No one was injured, but military personnel could be seen removing a large part of the rotor the next day and carting it away.

The incidents are the latest in a series that have inflamed Okinawan opposition to the large U.S. military presence on the southern Japan island chain.

In separate incidents last month, parts fell from U.S. military helicopters onto schools in Okinawa. One boy had minor injuries after an emergency escape window fell from a CH-53 transport helicopter into a school playground in Ginowan city. The school is next to Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.

Story and photo ➤  http://abcnews.go.com

TOKYO, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. military attack helicopter made an emergency landing in Japan's Okinawa Prefecture on Monday, local media reported, with the incident coming on the heels of an almost identical mishap just two days earlier. 

The AH-1 attack helicopter belonging to the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma made the emergency landing at a waste disposal site in the village of Yomitan in Japan's southernmost prefecture.

According to local police and the U.S. military, none of the four crew members aboard were injured in the emergency landing, which was in the vicinity of a large resort hotel, and there have been no reports of injury to persons or damage to property as a result of the latest U.S. military helicopter mishap.

The latest incident involving a U.S. military chopper follows a UH-1 heavy-lift transport helicopter on Saturday making an emergency landing on a sandy beach on Ikei Island, also in Okinawa.

The U.S. Marine Corps said the emergency landing on the small islet was due to "indications of the main rotor moving at too high a speed."

The UH-1 transport helicopter touched down just 100 meters away from a residential house, renewing concerns and anger among locals in Okinawa about the safety of U.S. military hardware owing to the increasing frequency of potentially fatal mishaps and accidents recently.

Both helicopters are based at the controversial U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, which is central to a protracted row between the local and central governments about its relocation from the densely populated Ginowan district, to the coastal Henoko region also on the island.

Japan's public broadcaster NHK said that according to defense ministry officials, the U.S. side explained to local police investigating the accident Monday that the emergency landing was a result of an instrument in the cockpit indicating a fault with the aircraft.

Original article can be found here ➤  http://www.xinhuanet.com



The U.S. Marine Corps said Sunday one of its helicopters made an emergency landing on a small islet in Okinawa the previous day after "indications of the main rotor moving at too high a speed."

None of the four crew members aboard was injured when the UH-1 helicopter landed on a sandy beach on Ikei Island. U.S. military personnel continued checking the aircraft Sunday morning and removed the main rotor.

"We are grateful that...no one was hurt and no property was damaged. The Marine Corps will rigorously investigate the cause of the incident," a Marine Corps officer told Kyodo News.

The incident is the latest in a series of accidents and mishaps involving U.S. military aircraft stationed in the southern prefecture of Okinawa, which hosts the bulk of U.S. military forces in Japan. The helicopter that made the emergency landing belongs to U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma on the main island of Okinawa.

Koichiro Nakajima, the Japanese Defense Ministry's local bureau chief, told reporters after inspecting the helicopter, "Flight safety is above everything else. We want (the U.S. military) to work toward that end."

Nakajima also met the head of the Ikei residents' association, who strongly protested over the incident.

"If an aircraft falls on our houses, it will cause huge damage. If we lose lives, they will not return," Masanori Tamaki, 61, said, adding the U.S. military should change its flight path.

Ikei Island, located around 30 kilometers northeast of the prefectural capital Naha is connected to the Okinawa main island by a bridge. According to a local resident, there is a house around 100 meters from where the helicopter landed.

Story and comments ➤ https://japantoday.com



U.S. military personnel appeared to remove part of the main rotor from a Marine Corps helicopter Sunday, one day after it made an emergency landing on a beach in Japan's southern Okinawa islands.

Japanese television showed personnel in dark green uniforms using four metal step ladders to reach the rotor of the helicopter, which remained parked on the sand, near the Pacific Ocean. They handed down a large part and hand-carried it off the beach.

The Marines confirmed in a statement that the UH-1Y helicopter landed on Ikeijima, a small island off Okinawa's main island, after indications that the main rotor was moving at too high a speed. No one was injured in the Saturday afternoon incident. The Marines said the cause was under investigation.

The U.S. maintains a major military presence in Okinawa. The local government and residents often complain about the American bases, and incidents like this one increase the friction.

In two separate incidents last month, parts fell from U.S. military helicopters onto schools in Okinawa. One boy had minor injuries after an emergency escape window fell from a CH-53 transport helicopter into a school playground. The school in Ginowan city is right next to Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.

Story and photo ➤ http://abcnews.go.com

URUMA, Okinawa Prefecture--A U.S. military helicopter made an emergency landing on Ikeijima island here on January 6.

Local police were alerted by phone around 4:15 p.m. that the helicopter had landed on the eastern coast of the island. No one was injured.

Local fire department officials said the pilot made the emergency landing in the Agarihama district. It was not clear what the problem was as no smoke was found coming out of the aircraft.

Ikeijima is located about 40 kilometers northeast of Naha, the Okinawa prefectural capital. The island is connected by bridge with the main Okinawa island.

Story and photo ➤ http://www.asahi.com

A US military helicopter has made an emergency landing on a small island in Okinawa Prefecture, southern Japan.

The police and fire department received calls Saturday afternoon about a helicopter landing on Ikeijima Island.

Aerial footage taken by NHK shows a US Marine Corps UH-1 helicopter on the eastern coast of the island with military officials nearby.

US officials say the helicopter is deployed at the Marine Corps' Futenma air station in Okinawa and that no crewmembers were injured.

An AH-1 attack helicopter deployed at Futenma made an emergency landing on the same island last January.

Story and video ➤ https://www3.nhk.or.jp

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