2 U.S. Ospreys Make Emergency Stops at Southern Japan Airport

June 5, 2018

Tokyo- Two CV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft of the U.S. Air Force made emergency landings at Amami Airport in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, on Monday afternoon.

No one was injured, Japan's Defense Ministry said, adding that commercial flights were not affected by the incident. The ministry is collecting information, including on the cause of the emergency landings.

According to the ministry, five CV-22 Ospreys left Yokota Air Base in Tokyo on Monday morning for Kadena Air Base in the southernmost Japan prefecture of Okinawa, a stopover location for their training.

Along the way, a problem occurred with one of the five aircraft, and two of them, including the plane in question, made unscheduled landings at the airport in the city of Amami on the island of Amami Oshima around 3 p.m. (6 a.m. GMT).

The remaining three Ospreys arrived at Kadena Air Base.

An MV-22 Osprey of the U.S. Marine Corps, deployed at the Marines' Futenma air base in Okinawa, made an emergency landing at Amami Airport in June 2017. Two MV-22 Ospreys from the same base made unscheduled landings at the airport in April this year, after a warning light flashed in one of the two aircraft.

The five CV-22 aircraft, the first Ospreys deployed at a U.S. base in Japan other than in Okinawa, arrived at the Yokota base in April this year.

After conducting training, they are scheduled to be officially deployed at Yokota as early as this summer. Five more CV-22 Ospreys are slated to be deployed at Yokota later.

On Monday, heads of municipalities hosting the Yokota base asked the Japanese ministry to take safety measures and tackle noise problems. Jiji Press