A U.S. military CV-22 Osprey transport aircraft is seen at the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force's Iwanuma training ground adjacent to Sendai International Airport in Miyagi Prefecture in this aerial photo taken from a Mainichi Shimbun helicopter on Sept. 23, 2021. (Mainichi/Kimi Takeuchi)

       SENDAI -- A CV-22 Osprey transport aircraft from the U.S. Air Force's Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo made an emergency landing at Sendai International Airport in the northern Japan Prefecture of Miyagi on the night of Sept. 22.

       According to the Ministry of Defense's Tohoku Defense Bureau and other sources, the aircraft was carrying around 10 people when it made the landing at around 9:30 p.m., but no one was injured. A local firefighting team was dispatched for the emergency landing as a precaution.

       The defense bureau had not received advance notice from the U.S. military, and was apparently contacted by the airport office. After landing on the runway, the aircraft was moved to the tarmac of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force's Iwanuma training ground next to the airport, which straddles cities of Natori and Iwanuma. The landing of one commercial airplane was delayed as a result of the incident.

       According to the defense bureau, the aircraft made a "preventive landing" to avoid an accident. The U.S. military dispatched another Osprey with maintenance personnel on board on Sept. 23.

       Among the Osprey aircraft at Yokota Air Base, two similarly made emergency landings at Yamagata Airport in the Yamagata Prefecture city of Higashine in June.

       (Japanese original by Issei Takizawa, Sendai Bureau)

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