An F-15 fighter jet from the Japan Air Self-Defense Force made an emergency landing at Naha Airport in Okinawa Prefecture on Thursday, September 10, temporarily closing off a portion of the runway.
According to Asahi Shimbun, the Naha Airport Affairs Office of the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism stated that around 7:15 p.m. on Thursday, the F-15 fighter jet made an emergency landing on the runway at Naha Airport. As a result, one of the two runways at the airport was temporarily closed. The closed runway resumed operation around 8:25 p.m. that evening.
In an interview with Asahi Shimbun, the Naha Air Base of the Air Self-Defense Force stated, “We are currently confirming whether there are any injuries to personnel and investigating the cause of the incident.”
According to Kyodo News, the Naha Air Base of the Air Self-Defense Force reported that around 6:05 p.m. on Thursday evening, the fighter jet took off in an emergency and experienced a hydraulic system failure during the flight, leading to the emergency landing at Naha Airport.
The airport affairs office mentioned that there was no fire when the fighter jet landed. The aircraft has been removed from the runway.
The runways at Naha Airport are used jointly by civilian passenger planes and the Self-Defense Force. A previous incident involving an F-15 fighter jet occurred on August 18. At that time, an F-15 took off in an emergency, but upon its return, it was unable to move, resulting in the closure of the runway for about 4 hours. The left-side wheel of the main landing gear had broken, causing the aircraft to come to a stop on the runway in a tilted position.