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Test flight of U.S. aircraft performed for ten minutes above Iwakuni base

by Kanako Noda, Staff Writer

On August 11, the Chugoku Shikoku Defense Bureau performed a test flight of a carrier-based airplane at the U.S. Marine Corps AIr Station Iwakuni, located in the city of Iwakuni. As a result of the realignment of U.S. military forces, 59 carrier-based airplanes are expected to be transferred from the Atsugi Naval Air Station, located in Kanagawa Prefecture, to the Iwakuni base by around 2017. The bureau had made arrangements with U.S. military forces at the request of the City of Iwakuni and other organizations.

Initially, the F/A-18 Super Hornet, which would make up most of the aircraft to be transferred, was expected to fly, but this was changed to the EA-18G Growler, the same type of aircraft, for reasons related to U.S. military operations. The Growler circled above the Iwakuni base for about ten minutes from 10:30 a.m., and twice performed a touch-and-go, a landing on a runway immediately followed by a takeoff without an intervening full stop.

About 70 people, including Iwakuni Mayor Yoshihiko Fukuda, members of the municipal assembly, and employees of neighboring local governments, observed the test flight at the Misumi Clean Center, about 500 meters from the north end of the runway. A city official measured the maximum noise levels. In the first flight, the noise was measured at 97 decibels, and in the second flight, the measurement was 94 decibels.

Hearing worries from local residents about noise, the city government requested the test flight. However, carrier-based airplanes including the Super Hornet and the Growler have flown frequently to the Iwakuni base. An observer questioned whether the test flight of only one airplane was effective since multiple carrier-based airplanes are usually in operation.

After the test flight, Mayor Fukuda said, “I don’t think there was an obvious difference in noise level compared to the conventional Hornet. We’d like to assess the noise levels of the carrier-based airplanes in their normal operating state and use this information for measures to dispel people’s concerns.”

(Originally published on August 12, 2016)

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