MSDF helicopters reportedly collided during night exercises; Advanced training fraught with danger for personnel

It is increasingly believed that two Maritime Self-Defense Force helicopters that crashed on April 20 collided during an advanced night training exercise to detect submarines.

On Saturday, a week after the accident, an MSDF oceanographic research vessel, capable of exploring the deep sea, arrived at the site and began searching for the aircraft’s main parts, believed to be on the seabed at a depth of 5,500 meters. .

“When the moon is hidden behind the clouds, you can’t even see the horizon. The sky and the sea are pitch black and you can’t tell them apart,” said a crew member with experience of night flights in an MSDF aviation unit. Other staff agreed it could be very frightening.

The two SH-60K patrol helicopters crashed late at night about 175 miles (280 kilometers) east of Torishima Island in the Izu Islands, which are officially part of Tokyo. They took part in an evaluation of the unit’s proficiency by the Commander of the Escort Fleet Force, in which eight ships and six helicopters worked together to pursue an MSDF submarine playing the role of enemy.

The evaluation is intended to verify the unit’s ability to conduct actual missions, which require advanced tactical insights and complex operations. It is also assessed how the unit responds to a situation in which it is attacked by the enemy.

The eight crew members on board the two helicopters are said to have been under enormous stress as they worked to ensure safety and track the submarine in the dark.

According to several MSDF employees, night training is more dangerous than daytime exercises. To allow the crew members’ eyes to adjust to the darkness outside the window, the only light in the plane is the faint glow of red lights. Relying on instruments that indicate the plane’s course, altitude, speed and attitude, they strain their eyes in the dark night, trying not to miss the slightest change.

The most nerve-wracking moment is lowering the sonar into the water while hovering at a height of about 65 feet. At night, the distance to the water surface cannot be visually confirmed and there is no choice but to rely on the instruments.

The submarine is also moving, so if judgments are delayed, the search area quickly expands. Once lost in the vast ocean, the probability of moving the submarine decreases dramatically, and the interior of the plane is always filled with tension.

One death has been confirmed and seven people are missing in the accident. The MSDF continues to search the area with approximately ten ships, including the oceanographic research vessel Shonan. Although the Shonan can search the seabed at depths of 5,500 meters, this is expected to be difficult because the accuracy of the observation decreases with depth.

Some in the Defense Department believe the crash was caused by human factors, as initial analysis of the flight data recorders recovered from the two planes revealed no data indicating anomalies in the helicopters. According to MSDF officials, there were also no problems with weather conditions at the time of the accident.