Incident Raised Concerns In Japan Over U.S. Military Aircraft

The U.S. Air Force has released a report following the investigation of an accident involving an HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter that resulted in the fatal injury of one of the service members on board.

The aircraft went down in a jungle training area on the island of Okinawa August 5. The report indicates that the accident came during training for pararescuemen for a deployment in Afghanistan. The pilot initiated a low-altitude maneuver because he erroneously thought he was about to collide with another helicopter, according to the report. The aircraft impacted the ground and a post-impact fire ensued. The accident fatally injured decorated flight engineer Air Force Tech Sgt. Mark Smith.

Stars and Stripes reports that 18th Mission Support Group commander Col. Jeffery Ullman said that the pilot "misjudged the situation," and that there were no mechanical issues with the Pave Hawk.

The accident also led to heightened tensions between the U.S. and Japanese governments over the basing of U.S. military aircraft in Japan. A U.S. helicopter had gone down in 2004 at an island university, and Japanese citizens were protesting the arrival of MV-22 Osprey aircraft at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.

(HH-60G image from file)

FMI: www.af.mil