PILOTS CONVEY CONCERNS ABOUT JALWAYS-DOD JET INCIDENT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TOKYO 005024 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ETRD ECON ECOM MARR JA SUBJECT: PILOTS CONVEY CONCERNS ABOUT JALWAYS-DOD JET INCIDENT ¶1. (SBU) On OCTOBER 26, Econoff met with the Japan Federation of Aviation Workers' Union (JFAU) Chairman Hiroya Yamaguchi to receive a letter to the Ambassador conveying the union's concerns about an August 8 incident involving a U.S. military jet and a JALways commercial airliner near Guam. Yamaguchi said the JFAU reported the incident to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Japanese Civil Aviation Bureau of the Ministry of Land Infrastructure and Transportation on September 27, but have so far received no reply from the Japanese ministries. ¶2. (SBU) According to Yamaguchi and other JFAU representatives, the U.S. military jet's close proximity to the Tokyo-bound JALways commercial aircraft set off the collision avoidance alarms on August 8. The pilot genuinely believed that a mid-air collision was imminent, explained Yamaguchi. The pilot descended immediately to avoid collision. At the time of the incident, the plane was at cruising altitude and the seatbelt sign was off. "We are very fortunate none of the crew or passengers were injured, and we are asking for USG assurance that this will never happen again," Yamaguchi explained. Econoff told the delegation that the embassy would forward this letter and convey the Federation's concerns to the appropriate military and civil aviation authorities for consideration. The JFAU letter to the Ambassador is as follows. ¶3. Begin letter text: -- We wish to inform you that, on August 8, 2007, a Japanese civil air transport encountered an incident of being trailed by a ¶U. S. fighter aircraft while in cruising over Guam Island. The distance between the two aircraft were so close that this approach by the U. S. military aircraft twice activated TCAS (Traffic alert and Collision Avoidance System) and thereby gave the pilots of the Japanese airliner RAs (Resolution Advisory) instructions to avert mid-air collision. -- According to the debriefing given by the Japanese crew of the aforementioned flight, the following facts were reported: -- That a large-scale aerial maneuvers were carried out by the U. ¶S. military over or in the vicinity of Guam on that day; -- That the Japanese airliner was under the control of air traffic controllers at Guam; -- That, when the Japanese airliner approached the point approximately 90 kilometers south of Guam, the flight crew spotted an aircraft approaching their airliner in descent from the rear. At this point, the first RA was issued to instruct the pilots to descend; -- That when the crew executed the descent, they found on their instrument the aircraft in question also lost altitude; -- That when the Japanese airliner descended approximately 130 meters, TCAS again was activated; -- That, immediately afterward, the pilots eye-witnessed the said aircraft re-appeared at the aft-below of his airliner, and this appearance again activated RA - this time to climb; -- That by the time the pilots climbed approximately 125 meters, TCAS gave collision warning and the pilots again spotted a fighter aircraft detaching itself to the right gaining distance from their airliner; -- That the weather on that day was clear without cloud and with excellent visibility. -- The captain of the said flight commented: "At the time of the incident we were cruising with seat-belt sign 'off.' It was indeed fortunate that no harm came to passengers and crew. When I confirmed that the other aircraft also was losing altitude during our descent while I was following the RA instruction I felt the mid-air collision a possibility. Judging from the situation, I believe that the fighter aircraft took a certain maneuver against the civil aircraft." -- As we encountered the above-mentioned incident that could have TOKYO 00005024 002 OF 002 caused a grave result, we firmly believe that it is imperative to find out what actually took place and to take appropriate measures to prevent recurrence of the similar incident in the light of securing safety of the operation of civil aviation. -- With respect, we would like to request to exert your power to let appropriate parties concerned to investigate the above- mentioned incident and take actions to prevent the recurrence. End Text SCHIEFFER