On Thursday (May 22), the Chief of Staff of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force confirmed that a training aircraft crash last Monday resulted in the deaths of two military personnel. The incident occurred on May 14 when a T-4 training aircraft carrying two crew members took off from the Komaki Air Self-Defense Force Base in Aichi Prefecture, central Japan, and crashed into a large reservoir within minutes.
Chief of Staff Hiroaki Uchikura stated at a press conference on Thursday that “the deaths of two crew members on board have been confirmed today.” He expressed sorrow, saying, “Losing these precious comrades in arms is heartbreaking.”
Autopsy results revealed that the two victims were aged 29 and 31 and died two minutes after takeoff. The crashed aircraft belonged to the Nittahara Air Self-Defense Force Base in Miyazaki Prefecture and was manufactured 36 years ago.
The cause of the accident is still under investigation. The Japan Air Self-Defense Force has grounded all remaining 196 training aircraft for emergency inspections.
According to the Japanese Ministry of Defense website, the T-4 aircraft is a two-seater aircraft that is domestically produced, highly reliable, and easy to maintain as a training aircraft suitable for all basic flight courses.
This aircraft crash incident is the latest in a series of defense aviation accidents in recent years, occurring at a time when Japan is accelerating military expansion to counter the growing threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party in the region.
Chief of Staff Uchikura stated that the accident would be taken seriously, and efforts would be made to “determine the cause and improve aviation safety to the fullest extent.”
(Reference to the relevant reports of the Associated Press and Kyodo News)