The U.S. Army’s Yokota Air Base in a western suburb of Tokyo opened to the public in a two-day event through Sunday that included an Air Force CV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor transport plane.
Visitors to the Japan-American Friendship Festival formed a long line to see the plane.
In November last year, a US Air Force CV-22 Osprey crashed near Yakushima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, killing all eight people on board.
All Ospreys deployed around the world were grounded after the accident. The flight ban was lifted in March and operations have resumed for the MV-22 Ospreys deployed to the US Marine Corps Futenma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture, but not for the CV-22 Ospreys at the Yokota base.
Colonel Andrew Roddan, commander at the Yokota base, told reporters on Saturday that the US military is working very carefully to resume operations of the CV-22 Ospreys.
The resumption of flights for the Ospreys from the Yokota base will be determined at an appropriate time, he said.
Initially, the U.S. Army considered a plan to fly a Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey to the Yokota base for static display at the festival. But communities around the Yokota base on Wednesday called on the U.S. to cancel the plan, saying local residents will feel uncomfortable seeing an Osprey flying toward the Yokota base, even though the base is keeping its Ospreys on the ground.
A US military official denied that the change was due to the request of local authorities. The arrangement of the aircraft on display is subject to change at any time due to factors related to their operations, the official added.
Also on display at the event are a U.S. Air Force F-22 stealth fighter and Japanese Self-Defense Forces aircraft.
