A US Army's UH-60 was crashed in the Pacific ocean, off shore of Nago city and Uruma city, Okinawa prefecture, Japan. All 17 occupants were rescued, and 7 members among them received injuries. It is reported that the accident helicopter attempted to land on a US Navy warship, but failed. The registration of the accident UH-60 is not reported, however, the figures '63' can be seen on the left side door according to the TV news videos.
The U.S. Army H-60 helicopter crashed into USNS Red Cloud off Okinawa Island during a training session. Seven people were injured but all 17 crew members were rescued by the Japanese Coast Guard. The injured were transported to the U.S. Naval Hospital at Camp Foster.
The crash occurred as the helicopter attempted a hard deck landing on the Red Cloud, but Japanese officials are still investigating what caused the collision. Japanese patrol boats and helicopters were dispatched for the rescue.
The helicopter’s rear rotor was severed and currently on the deck of the USNS Red Cloud. The Japanese Coast Guard confirmed that no oil leaked into the ocean due to the collision.
Okinawa is 900 miles southwest of Tokyo and home to several U.S. military bases and 27,000 personnel.
USNS Red Cloud (T-AKR 313) is one of Military Sealift Command's nineteen Large, Medium-Speed Roll-on/Roll-off (LMSR) Ships and is one of the 24 ships in the Prepositioning Program. She is a Watson-class vehicle cargo ship named for Corporal Mitchell Red Cloud, Jr., a Medal of Honor recipient, after whom Camp Red Cloud in Korea is also named.
Laid down on 29 June 1998 and launched on 7 August 1999, Red Cloud was put into service on 18 January 2000.
Associated Press
Published: August 12, 2015
A U.S. Army helicopter crashed off the southern Japanese island of Okinawa on Wednesday, injuring seven people aboard the aircraft, officials said.
The others aboard the helicopter were uninjured, said Japanese coast guard spokesman Shinya Terada. The conditions of the injured were not immediately known, he said.
U.S. Army Lt. Col. Kevin Toner said in an email that the Army was still gathering facts and that it would provide details later.
Terada said that after the crash, the damaged helicopter was sitting on a U.S. warship off the eastern coast of Okinawa, which is home to most of the U.S. troops in Japan. He said it was not immediately known whether the helicopter had crashed onto the vessel in a failed landing or if it had been plucked out of the sea after crashing there.
Japan's Defense Ministry had said earlier that the helicopter, a UH-60, crashed into the sea about 20 miles (30 kilometers) east of Kadena Air Base on Okinawa.
Japanese national broadcaster NHK showed video of the helicopter sitting on the warship, with its tail broken off and covered with an orange tarp.
The presence of thousands of U.S. troops on Okinawa — where more than half of about 50,000 American troops in Japan are concentrated — has been a source of friction. A plan formulated in 1996 between the Japanese and American governments would move Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from a populated neighborhood to a less developed area, but Okinawans worried about safety, crime and noise want the base moved off the island altogether.
Wednesday's accident coincided with Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga's visit to the island for talks with Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga, a vocal opponent of the relocation plan.
"For those who live near (U.S.) bases, it's a serious matter," he said at the outset of the talks, reminding Suga of Okinawa's burden and risk of accommodating the U.S. military bases.
| Date: | 12-AUG-2015 |
| Time: | 13 - 14 JST |
| Type: |  Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk |
| Owner/operator: | US Army |
| Registration: | |
| C/n / msn: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 17 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Airplane damage: | Written off (damaged beyond repair) |
| Location: | 35km east of Kadena Air Base (DNA/RODN) -
 Japan
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | |
A US Army's UH-60 was crashed in the Pacific ocean, off shore of Nago city and Uruma city, Okinawa prefecture, Japan. All 17 occupants were rescued, and 7 members among them received injuries. It is reported that the accident helicopter attempted to land on a US Navy warship, but failed. The registration of the accident UH-60 is not reported, however, the figures '63' can be seen on the left side door according to the TV news videos.
Sources:
http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=178552 http://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/black-hawk-copter-crashes-off-okinawa-all-aboard-rescued-1.362506
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20150812/k10010187691000.html
http://news.tbs.co.jp/newseye/tbs_newseye2561493.html
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20150812-00050069-yom-soci
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20150812-00000039-asahi-soci
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20150812-00000070-jij-soci