Night training flights inevitable: US forces Okinawa head

March 9, 2017

NAHA- Lt. Gen. Lawrence Nicholson, head of US forces in the southernmost Japan prefecture of Okinawa, has indicated that night training flights are inevitable although they can cause noise pollution.

Pilots need to conduct flight training, including at night, for certain hours, Nicholson told a press conference on Wednesday.

He made the remark after a recent Japanese court ruling said the US military is not following a Japan-US agreement limiting late-night and early-morning flights at US bases in the Asian country.

The ruling was issued on Feb. 23 in the third litigation to seek damages from noise pollution from the US military’s Kadena Air Base in the prefecture.

Meanwhile, Nicholson expressed his personal opinion that Japan’s Self-Defense Forces should be allowed to use the US Marine Corps’ Camp Schwab in Okinawa. Jiji Press