Japan, U.S. consider Osprey night-flight training in Hokkaido

Okinawans have been frustrated with noise, crimes and accidents linked to U.S. bases.

Personally I am more frustrated and annoyed with the noise, crimes, and accidents that happen around where I live and work...and not a single US military folks is involved. Go figure.

Let's hope these guys start obeying common sense aviation rules like never ignoring the ground proximity warnings and minimum safe altitudes while flying.

We've had several controlled flights into terrain this year alone, it's got to stop. Hokkaido's risky at night. Fly safe guys.

Sounds fine by me.

Thanks to the US and Japanese forces who will fight for us if need be.

A few more crashes on the horizon if they let Japanese fly them.

Apart from language issues, ask any western pilot what it is like to fly with Japanese, a nightmare.

Good idea. They can fly over Sapporo at night. Sapporo residents won't mind!

Reminds me of Avatar.

So, we got 6 less for 18 days, means still many Ospreys left roaring in Okinawa for 346 days, indeed worth another "reducing the burden" newsflash.

Am sure the Americans will find a villiage and hover their Ospreys over it at 2am. The people of Hokkaido will learn what it is like to have American military "training" in their area.

They must be preparing. to stop N Korean menace.

An Osprey still produces less decibels than an antibase protestor screaming into a cone... and most Okinawans like the Osprey better!

CrucialS, the people of Okinawa hate the Osprey as it is very loud and likely to be hovering over a populated part of Okinawa for long periods of time. Nothing like it hovering over your house at 2am at 500 feet agl.

The thousands that line up to see the Osprey at the festivals on Kadena and Futenma over the last 5 years make that hard to believe.

I live right in the border of Kita Naka Gusuku and Awase, which is the direct departure and return flight path for aircraft from Futenma and have never heard an aircraft fly or hover later than 11pm. Not even when I lived in Ginowan. Hovering around at 2am is a complete exaggeration.

Conducting Osprey training in Hokkaido is part of the two countries' efforts to reduce the burden on Okinawa from hosting the bulk of U.S. military facilities in Japan.

Is this the reason why Ospreys must train in Hokkaido: to reduce the burden on Okinawa? LOL. There's an airspace over the ocean off Okinawa that is exclusively reserved for them to train day and night without inflicting noise pollution upon people.

The real reason why they must train in Hokkaido is thus not to reduce burden on Okinawa but upgrade the flight skills of pilots flying low over the undulating land mass of Hokkaido which narrow Okinawa doesn't provide.

The U.S. Marines have already set up several low-flight training routs on mainland Japan. All this to reduce the burden on Okinawa? LOL.

The reason they want to fly over Hokkaido is because the terrain resembles Korea more than it resembles Okinawa.

Korea is full of mountains and at night it is not illuminated very well. The weather conditions are less humid and cooler than Okinawa as well which reproduces the performance the aircraft can expect to have in the Korean climate.

The distance from Okinawa to Hokkaido is 2,200 km (1,367 miles) and so the round trip distance is 4,400 km (2734 miles). 

Who pays for fuel for the Ospreys’ round-trip flights? It must be the Japanese taxpayers because there's a bilateral agreement that, in cases like troop and equipment transportation for artillery training on the mainland, a measure agreed upon to reduce Okinawa's burden, all the costs must be borne by Japan. 

So there's the reason why the Marines must say the Ospreys' flight training in Hokkaido is to reduce burden on Okinawa.

CrucicalS more like 10 to 50 people ( mostly with kids ) standing in line, to see the planes at festivals, been there done it. The mainreason why the people go to this festivals is to socialize, eat & trink overpriced festival food.

If your really live in or near Awase than you should know and experience the squadron of Ospreys ever few minutes, even late night. - not every day, but way too often.

The thousands that line up to see the Osprey at the festivals on Kadena and Futenma over the last 5 years make that hard to believe