Several Cities And Towns File Noise Grievance

Tokyo's government, along with those of five other cities and towns, filed a letter of grievance with the Air Force's Yokota Air Base, saying there's just too much noise. The group wants US officials to take preventative action after a recent spike in noise complaints from Japanese citizens.

The group demanded US military officials implement "stricter implementation of noise-prevention measures," according to 374th Airlift Wing spokesman Capt. David Westover.

“We responded by stating that we understand these concerns and that minimizing noise is a top priority of senior leadership,” Westover told Stars & Stripes.

The letter said noise levels at Yokota had increased since June because of a rise in the number of low-flying aircraft into and out of the base. Most of the complaints -- 80 of 89 -- arose from an incident where the base's runways were closed as a flight of four transient fighter aircraft approached to land. The four made a low pass over the runway, then departed the area, according to Westover.

Other complaints alleged flights between 2200 and 0600 were far too noisy, as were sirens stemming from a base exercise.

“There is a concern that this may have negative impact on the relations between Yokota Air Base and local communities,” the grievance letter stated.

“For more than 40 years, Yokota Air Base has limited its night-flying operations as much as possible... to reduce aircraft noise for the citizens of our surrounding communities,” Westover told Stars & Stripes. The local officials asked for more information about training flights and asked the USAF to restrain training activity during overnight hours.

FMI: www.yokota.af.mil