By
The Associated Press
TOKYO - Tokyo's outspoken governor criticized a U.S. military base, pointing to a near collision between two airliners even though aviation officials say an air traffic controller was to blame for the close call.
Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, a former transportation minister known for nationalistic views, said restrictions on flights over Yokota Air Base in Tokyo makes a swath of prime air space over Japan's main Honshu island off-limits to commercial pilots.
"If the traffic control zone over Yokota wasn't like a giant wall, regular pilots wouldn't have to fly in such an absurd manner and the near miss wouldn't have happened," Ishihara said during a talk show on Japan's TV Asahi.
However, Seiji Hirai, chief of the Transport Ministry's air traffic control division, said Saturday the close call apparently stemmed from a rookie controller who told the wrong airplane to reduce altitude. The near collision is still under investigation, and a definite cause has not been determined.
In the run-up to his April 1999 election, Ishihara pledged to return the air base to Japan, or at least make it available for joint use as a commercial airport. He argued that in times of peace there is no need to limit it to military use.
But both Washington and the Japanese central government insist that Yokota is crucial to the operations of U.S. forces here under a security agreement between the two nations.
The U.S. military was aware of Ishihara's remark yesterday but had no comment, said U.S. Forces Japan spokeswoman Maj. Patricia Johnson.
In the near collision Wednesday, two Japan Airlines jets passed as close as 33 feet from each other in the air west of Tokyo, one pilot said. The area comprises some of Japan's busiest air space.
Forty-two people were injured aboard one of the planes when its pilot dived suddenly to avoid disaster. Together, the planes were carrying almost 700 passengers.
The government plans to reorganize flight paths and ground control zones to improve safety as early as June, the nationwide Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said in its Saturday evening edition.
Japan may also increase pressure on the U.S. military to return airspace over Yokota and other bases in the wake of the close call, the newspaper said, citing unidentified Transportation Ministry sources.
Transportation Ministry official Yasunori Onuki declined yesterday to comment on the report.
Ishihara is perhaps best known in the rest of the world for his 1989 book, "The Japan That Can Say No," in which he calls on his country to stand up to the United States on trade and other issues.
