ASDF fighter obstructs commercial plane's landing at Misawa base

I for one would love to hear the pilot of the jet's explanation for this before accusing him of being an arrogant idiot

The probability that it was a tower error rather than a pilot error is way higher.

If it was a scramble, the ASDF pilot had right of way, and would have been in the air in less than a minute, causing minimum delay. Naha AB/airport, which launches more than 400 scrambles per year, and deals with several times more civilian traffic than Misawa doesn’t seem to have this problem.

Just because you don't hear more news it doesn't mean this is not a terrible and indeed endemic problem in Naha and all over Japan!

There is a serious lack of co-opeartion between the military and civilian flying, and it has caused loss of life and will only get worse with the increase of traffic.

The ministers of Defense and Transport MUST MUST hammer out an agreement! It should be based on the principle of War-Peace where in peacetime the right of way GENERALLY should belong to the civilian branch so the country can generate revenue to pay the non-economic military. But in case of war the military must have the right of way for the survival of the nation.

Civilian takes priority over military during any peacetime matters. As far as I know Japan is still at peace. Isn't this what got Japan in trouble to begin with pre WW2, far too much influence by the Japan military over the civilian sector? Definitely some explanations are due. Lately the ASDF in Misawa has been more active than late and is not following the current agreement in place between the base and local city or Prefecture. The noise has increased vs the past and it clearly seems to be getting worse. There really is no need for the pilots to gun the engines so hard during take off on such a small craft vs the mid size JAL flights.

I'm just glad everyone is safe.

Waiting for the prosecutors to charge the fighter pilot with professional negligence. Aka the osprey crash.

Lately the ASDF in Misawa has been more active than late 

Yes, that is because lately China and Russia have been more active in intruding in Japan’s airspace.

There really is no need for the pilots to gun the engines so hard 

The scramble pilots need to get in the air to intercept a threat as fast as possible. When a bogey is approaching your airspace at supersonic speeds, every second counts.

rgcivilian1

As others have said, getting an aircraft up in the Air as quick as possible is very important. Going into afterburner during takeoff is not uncommon. When there is an Aircraft inbound to your airspace, and you are sitting on the ground in your jet as this aircraft is coming there is limited time to get airborne. I used to be in the Navy, and having an Alert 5 aircraft (be airborne within 5 minutes) was not uncommon. Between china and russia wanting to play games, and training, there will be alot of activity.

Perhaps the answer is to build a separate civilian airfield? Either way the pilot of the fighter jet should have obeyed the controller unless he had an emergency forcing him to land but if that were the case he would have already notified control (if he is competent) of the problem and his need to land immediately. There is no indication in the article of any such circumstance, so the natural interpretation is that the pilot is an arrogant, entitled prat.

Does not THE CONTROLLER have sole rights here, not a pompous upstart fighter pilot.

There is no indication in the article of any such circumstance, so the natural interpretation is that the pilot is an arrogant, entitled prat.

There are so many more interpretations I can come up with before that one.

not a pompous upstart fighter pilot.

You guys crack me up. We have so little information yet you both are insisting that the fighter pilot is an a-hole.

I read it that the fighter pilot entered the runway - instead of stopping on the taxiway and waiting for the incoming plane to land. Not that he landed first. He was waiting to take off. If it was a scramble, he still needed controller authorization - which he would likely have been given, with the commercial flight asked to go-around. In this case I suspect the fighter pilot simply made a mistake.  If it wasn’t a scramble, it was a training exercise and he needs to learn from it.

When the scramble alert goes off, the pilots literally dash to their aircraft, that has been fully pre-flight inspected, and proceed to the taxiway and takeoff when ready. The AC tower is supposed to clear surrounding traffic so the scramble can launch without delay. All commercial pilots know the protocol when a scramble alert is issued, even when in final landing approach. The entire process takes about 3 minutes.

If it was a scramble, the commercial pilot either ignored tower warnings, or the tower was late in announcing it.