 Despite accident, U.S. F15 fighters keep training In Okinawa, U.S. forces revealed their insensitiveness to residents' concern when they carried out training with F-15 fighters on October 5, the day after two F-15 fighter jets stationed at Elemendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, touched each other in midair. At around 8:40 a.m., nine F-15s left the U.S. Kadena Air Base for training that included low-altitude flights and steep-turns. A man who lives near the base said, "Every time a U.S. military accident occurs, I cannot but become fearful of more aircraft crashes." On the same day, Miyagi Tokujitsu, the Kadena Town mayor who chairs the liaison council of three municipalities adjacent to the Kadena base, visited Col. Brent Baker, commander of the 18th Mission Support Group of the U.S. Kadena Air Base, to demand a halt to F-15 flights and an early withdrawal of the unit from the Elemendorf base. A U.S. Kadena Air Base spokesman announced that the two F-15 fighters had an accident in airspace about 230 kilometers from southern Okinawa, but stopped short of giving details of the cause the accident. (end) |