U.S. fighter jet dumps fuel tanks before emergency landing in Aomori

The one at Misawa was a JSDF, was it not ?

I don't think it matters.

Aircraft have a maximum landing weight and the tanks weren't jettisoned for fun. No one was hurt, so it's a good outcome.

How hard is it to move a aircraft? Just drag it away. For a airport to be held up that easily is nuts.

pilot jettisoned fuel tanks into an unpopulated area around Mt. Iwaki

A few people may live sparsely there. It is popular for people to move to remote area around beautiful mountain/forest because of teleworks these days.

The attitude evinced in Japan is an underlying deeply hypocritical one, they don’t want to pay the cost of a military large enough and capable enough to secure their own safety in a currently dangerous part of the world yet carp continuously at any accident involving those who provide the necessary safety blanket.

As a comparison from WW2 and during much of my life in the period of the Cold War, Britain had a huge US military presence, and inevitably accident happened but there was not the same incessant drumbeat of complaint at a necessary Ally.

Yet the tanks were dropped in a residential area. The pilot did not make sure to drop them in a safe place. Reminds me of a US F100 that went down in Okinawa. The pilot ejected and the plane hit a Okinawan school.

American forces stationed in both Britain and Japan have zero to do with protecting the host nation and everything to do with protecting America. Bringing their forward defences to zones far from their own land will enable them to sustain much lesser damage while the host nation gets battered. So stop please with the paternalistic crap about not being happy about the US and it's benevolent defence.

US is falling.

It seems to me the US better let JSDF handle more more roles of the US military to protect/defend its own country. JSDF have enough defense forces there because Japan buy a lot of American weapons and US military trained JSDF for years. The US and Japan have a security treaty for a long time, some US military bases would be necessary and understandable there.

It's called training and it's what militaries do to be ready to fight. The US and the ADF. Get used to it or go back to YOUR country.

@englisc aspyrgend

The attitude evinced in Japan is an underlying deeply hypocritical one, they don’t want to pay the cost of a military large enough and capable enough to secure their own safety

Actually Japan pays enough for its military and its SDF are large enough and well-equipped enough to secure the safety of this country. The U.S. forces here are not to defend Japan but to defend American interests. No need for Japan to be a hostage of American political machinations, Japan should not become a battlefield in case of a possible military confrontation between the U.S. and China.

kwattToday  08:39 am JST

“pilot jettisoned fuel tanks into an unpopulated area around Mt. Iwaki”

A few people may live sparsely there. It is popular for people to move to remote area around beautiful mountain/forest because of teleworks these days.

And what about the mosquitos and bugs? They could have been injured.

Emergencies require immediate actions. Should the pilot have ejected and let the $64 million plane crash?

Go back home and do stunts there above your own country.

Ah, yes. The old stunts flying thing.

I dont want foreign boots on japanese soil. Go back home and do stunts there above your own country.

No, no, no, you got it all wrong. Repeat after me: Japan's best friend and protector, America is here to save Japan from China, North Korea and Russia for a mere $ 2 bn a year. Arigato.

@Peter Neil the article stated at least one dropped in a residential area.

The one at Misawa was a JSDF, was it not ?

Did you read the article? Wait...no you didnt!

The Misawa base houses both the U.S. military and Japan's Self-Defense Forces.

 Reminds me of a US F100 that went down in Okinawa. 

Right, 1959 is like yesterday.

This is an occupation in all but name. Japan is not a sovereign country and is just used (like the UK) as a forward defense post for the American Empire's interests. SPin it any way you want, but Japanese cannot really have pride in themselves and their country until this foreign military occupation is ended and their military calls the shots in the defense of their country.

Many thanks to: Sheikh Yerboaby and Ego Sum Lux Mundi and Asakaze, for stating an inherent truth.

USA is not here to protect Japan or its inhabitants. Japan is a client-state and essentially, for almost 75 years, an army of occupation - a forward base to secure interests in Asia and confront the likes of China and keep the two Koreas in line.

The US military would sacrifice the peoples of Japan, without a care if it fit the USA's geopolitical stratagem or any element of realpolitik.

US military bases should be kicked out of Japan - the continual 'accidents' the boorish and vile behavior of its military personnel towards the population - the second world war ended in 1945. Yanqui go home.

This is an occupation in all but name. Japan is not a sovereign country and is just used (like the UK) as a forward defense post for the American Empire's interests.

I call total BS on that fake statement.

Eastman

I dont want foreign boots on japanese soil.

You want Japan to change its constitution and massively increase the defense budget? OK, fine, that is an opinion one can have, but you should say so. Just demanding something without context makes no sense.

Sheikh YerboabyToday  09:04 am JST

American forces stationed in both Britain and Japan have zero to do with protecting the host nation and everything to do with protecting America

No, they have to do with both protecting the host country and protecting the United States. That's why the host nations agree to have US Bases in their countries.

At least the jet landed safely and nobody was hurt. Dumping fuel and jettisoning any external loads are standard emergency procedures prior to landing. Not that long ago an F-16 crashed into a warehouse not far from its operating base. The pilot was able to eject successfully and nobody on the ground was killed or badly injured.

https://news.yahoo.com/f-16-pilot-safely-ejects-jet-crashes-california-033204723.html

American forces stationed in both Britain and Japan have zero to do with protecting the host nation and everything to do with protecting America

It's both. Both nations know full well that if they are attacked by Russia or China the US will inevitably become involved. Better to have US forces forward deployed where they will fight and in that manner deter an attack than to sit at home and have to mobilize and deploy into a hot combat zone a week or two after an attack.

Yet the tanks were dropped in a residential area. The pilot did not make sure to drop them in a safe place. 

I love comments like this by people who have never been in the cockpit of an aircraft experiencing an in-flight emergency where warning lights are flashing and horns blaring at you as you try to sort out what the failure is and run through the memory steps of the emergency procedure you have practiced umpteen times in the simulator or while "flying" the landing pattern around your coffee table (you have to have gone to flight school to get that one maybe) running through your checklists until they are second nature. I've been in a situation much like that looking for a safe place to drop a 6000 lb tank of diesel fuel after one of our two engines failed and we were overtemping the living daylights out of the good one (warning lights and horns going off). We thought we had a great place to drop it but it turned out to be a swamp. What a mess. But it was do that or the other engine would have failed from being overtemped (melts the turbine blades). Fly enough hours and soon enough the aircraft tries to kill you. Finding the optimum place to jettison drop tanks might not be so easy to do when the aircraft is failing and might not continue to fly.

@Desert Tortoise perhaps not though what is more important to you? The fighter got to the civilian airport and then the USA closed the airport out of security concerns. What if the tanks fell through the roof of a school? We all have to live with the outcomes of our actions.