Flight data recorders from crashed Japanese naval helicopters show no signs of mechanical failure

The Maritime Self-Defense Force’s two SH-60K reconnaissance helicopters lost contact late Saturday during a nighttime anti-submarine training near Torishima island, about 600 kilometers south of Tokyo, officials said.

A crew member pulled from the water early Sunday was later pronounced dead. The search continued on Monday for the seven who were still missing, along with the fuselage of the plane. The seabed at the crash site east of Torishima is about 5.5 kilometers deep and recovery is considered challenging.

Officials believe the two helicopters probably got too close and collided, Kihara said.

The flight data recorders from the two planes were found close together, along with a blade from each helicopter, a number of helmets and fragments believed to have come from both planes — signs that the two SH-60Ks crashed nearly in the same spot, officials said.

The twin-engine, multi-mission helicopters developed by Sikorsky and known as Seahawks were modified and produced in Japan by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Japan has about 70 of the modified Seahawks.

The crash comes as Japan, under its 2022 security strategy, accelerates its military build-up and strengthens its defenses in Japan’s southwestern Pacific islands and the East China Sea to counter threats from China’s increasingly assertive military to counteract. Japan has conducted its own extensive naval exercises in recent years, as well as joint exercises with the United States and other partners.

Saturday’s nighttime anti-submarine warfare training involved only the Japanese navy, Navy Chief Ryo Sakai said.

In 2017, a Japanese Navy SH-60J, an earlier generation Seahawk, crashed during night training due to human error, killing three crew members. In July 2021, two SH-60s had a minor collision off the coast of the southern island of Amami Oshima, in which both suffered blade damage but caused no injuries.

After the collision in 2021, the Navy introduced a series of measures to ensure sufficient distance between aircraft. Sakai said Saturday’s crash could have been prevented if all safety measures had been adequately followed.

In the US, the fatal crash of an MH-60S Seahawk during training off the coast of California in 2021 was attributed to mechanical failure due to unsuspected damage during maintenance, the US Navy said.