US military chopper removed from emergency landing site in Okinawa

January 8, 2018

Uruma, Okinawa Pref.- The US military on Monday morning transported a UH-1 helicopter that made an emergency landing in Okinawa Prefecture on Saturday to a US Navy site in the city of Uruma in the southernmost Japan prefecture.

The chopper, which belongs to the US Marine Corps' Futenma air station in the Okinawa city of Ginowan, made the emergency landing on a beach in Ikeijima, an island in Uruma, on Saturday afternoon, following a warning that its main rotor was revolving at excessive speeds.

Around 10:15 a.m. Monday (1:15 a.m. GMT), a CH-53 large transport helicopter of the Marine Corps came close to the UH-1. After the two helicopters were connected using wires, the CH-53 hoisted the UH-1 and then flew away.

About 10 minutes later, the CH-53 carrying the UH-1 arrived at White Beach, a U.S. naval facility in Uruma, according to officials of the Okinawa Defense Bureau of Japan's Defense Ministry.

In January last year, an AH-1Z attack helicopter belonging to the Futenma base made an emergency landing on a farm road in Ikeijima due to a mechanical problem.

A series of other incidents involving US military aircraft have occurred in Okinawa, heightening concerns among local people. Last month, a window frame of a CH-53E large military transport helicopter fell onto the playground of a Ginowan elementary school located adjacent to the Futenma base. Jiji Press