File:02707crash.jpg

2015.07.26 crash at Chofu, Japan. Fire fighter machine, smoke. The tail part of the airplane is seen at the left hand side of the fire fighter machine.

Location: 4 Chome-9-52 Fujimichō Chōfu-shi, Tōkyō-to 182-0033 35.66338, 139.53570

References

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002313700 1:20 pm, July 26, 2015. The Japan News. Three people were killed when a light airplane crashed into a residential area in the Fujimicho area of Chofu, Tokyo, at about 11 a.m. Sunday. The fatalities are believed to be two men in the airplane and a female resident of one of the houses that were set on fire in the crash. At least two people were believed to have been unable to escape from the houses and another two from the airplane. The incident occurred soon after the airplane left Chofu airport for Tokyo’s Izu-Oshima island.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/26/light-plane-crashes-into-tokyo-suburb-and-sets-houses-on-fire Three feared dead after light plane crashes into Tokyo suburb. Firefighters battles burning houses after five-seater plane comes down in residential district of Chofu in Japan’s capital NHK, quoting police, said two people on board and one female local resident were killed in the accident. At least three houses and two cars were on fire in the capital’s residential district of Chofu near the airport, and the crash also damaged the roofs of other houses nearby, according to the spokesman and local media. A witness told NHK: “I thought it was flying quite low.” Television footage showed firefighters battling the blaze, and showed the remains of the plane’s tail.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/26/us-japan-crash-idUSKCN0Q001F20150726 Three killed as small airplane crashes into Tokyo suburb: Sun Jul 26, 2015 4:00am.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/07/26/national/three-reported-dead-after-small-plane-crashes-into-homes-in-tokyo-suburbs/#.VbSfzBbDNSU Three reported dead after small plane crashes into homes in Tokyo suburbs. KYODO. A light plane crashed in a residential area in Chofu, western Tokyo, on Sunday morning. Three people — two aboard the aircraft and one on the ground — died in the accident. | KYODO. JUL 26, 2015. .. Two men who were in the plane and a female resident in one of the houses died, it said. Four other people received injuries due to the crash, the Tokyo Fire Department said. The crash of the five-seater plane occurred around 11 a.m. and set five houses and a vehicle on fire, it said.

http://sputniknews.com/asia/20150726/1025055308.html 06:15 26.07.2015(updated 10:36 26.07.2015) A light passenger aircraft has crashed in the residential area of Chofu, west of Tokyo, claiming the lives of three; four more injured.

2015.06.26. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/11763536/Light-plane-crashes-into-Tokyo-suburb.html By Agencies, video source APTN. 4:49AM BST 26 Jul 2015. Light plane crashes into Tokyo suburb At least two people injured as light plane comes down in residential area, setting homes on fire. .. At the plane, it is written "QA4960".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFwR-SUZUx4 Published on Jul 26, 2015 A small plane crashed into a Tokyo suburb Sunday, killing three people and setting buildings and cars ablaze, authorities said. The plane departed from a ... Small plane crashes in Tokyo, July 2015 - Setting Homes Ablaze | RAW FOOTAGE Small plane crashes in Tokyo, July 2015 - Setting Homes Ablaze | RAW ... (RAW VIDEO) Light plane crashes into Tokyo suburb, killing 3 people A small plane crashed into a Tokyo suburb Sunday, killing three people and setting ... Tokyo Plane Crash 'Leaves Three Dead' Tokyo plane crash 'leaves three dead' Three people were killed as a light plane crashed in Japan, setting fire to ... Small Airplane Crashes Into Tokyo Suburb, Sets Fire To Houses, Cars ... A small plane crashed into a residential area in Light plane crashes into Tokyo suburb

http://www.torontosun.com/2015/07/26/deadly-plane-crash-in-tokyo TOKYO -- A small plane crashed into a quiet neighbourhood in Tokyo on Sunday, killing the pilot, a passenger and a woman on the ground, while three people were pulled alive from the wreckage, firefighters and TV reported. The single-engine propeller plowed into and set ablaze a row of houses just minutes after takeoff from an airport used by small aircraft about 500 metres (yards) away in Tokyo's western suburb of Chofu. Television footage showed a mangled plane, broken up with its tail upside down, resting on a crushed car on a residential lot as dozens of firefighters were battling the blaze and treating the casualties. The roofs of the two houses next to the site were also damaged. Tokyo Fire Department spokesman Teruaki Seki said the dead included the pilot, one of the four passenger and a woman who was inside the house where the plane crashed into, setting it ablaze. Five others, including the three remaining passengers and two people on the ground, were taken to hospitals, but their conditions were not immediately known. Minako Akiyama, a resident in the neighbourhood, said she first heard enormous noise of something being torn. "There was kaboom! I ran upstairs, then I saw the house just over there on fire, with a tail of the plane sticking out of it." The plane was flying to Izu Oshima Island, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Tokyo in the Pacific Ocean, according to NHK.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/07/27/national/pilot-fatal-chofu-crash-licensed-instruct-plane-not-authorized-commercial-flights/#.VbYDORbDNSU Police suspect engine trouble in fatal Chofu plane crash. JUL 27, 2015. The light plane that crashed into homes in Chofu in western Tokyo on Sunday, killing the pilot and two others, failed to gain altitude shortly after takeoff and crashed in less than a minute, police said Monday.

An abnormal sound was coming from the single-engine propeller aircraft before it crashed, leading the police to suspect engine trouble or some kind of aircraft malfunction was behind the accident.

The plane, piloted by Taishi Kawamura, 36, and carrying four passengers, took off from Chofu Airport at around 10:58 a.m. and crashed less than a minute later in a residential area 500 meters southeast of the airfield, the police said.

Video footage obtained by the police from witnesses showed the Piper PA-46 flying at an altitude significantly lower than normal.

Kawamura was leasing the plane from its private owner. A company called Nippon Aerotech Co. provided maintenance.

Kawamura was among the three people killed in the crash. Also killed were Mitsuru Hayakawa, 36, a passenger in the plane, and Nozomi Suzuki, 34, who lived in one of the houses the plane slammed into, causing a massive fire.

The three other passengers in the plane were injured but survived. They were identified as Yasuyuki Tamura, 51, of Sango, Saitama Prefecture, Noriaki Moriguchi, 36, an editor at men’s magazine GQ Japan, and Tsuyoshi Hanafusa, 35, of Bunkyo Ward Tokyo, NHK reported, citing hospital sources and Nippon Aerotech.

The police did not immediately identify the two other people on the ground who were injured.

Kawamura, a resident of Kawasaki, ran a flight training company even though he lacked the necessary permission from the government, according to transport ministry officials.

Kawamura’s company, SIP Aviation, is based in Chofu. According to the transport ministry, Kawamura was a licensed flight instructor but had not been authorized by the ministry to use aircraft for an aviation business, as is necessary for any pilot training operations.

Kawamura had acknowledged this, explaining on the company’s website that despite repeated negotiations with authorities he had not been able to obtain the permission.

“The aviation training our company provides is done through ‘club membership,’ not through a ‘plane-using operation,’ ” the website says, adding that his firm had tried on numerous occasions to obtain the required permission from municipal governments and ministries, but to no avail.

Kawamura offered a range of training courses, including a five-month program to become a private pilot for ¥3.24 million.

According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the transport ministry, he had logged 1,500 hours of flight time. He had stated Sunday that he was embarking on an “orientation flight” to maintain pilot proficiency. Metropolitan government officials said such flights are permitted for licensed pilots and their plane can carry passengers who are undergoing training to become pilots.

At a news conference Monday, Nippon Aerotech President Junji Koyama, who worked with Kawamura for two years until Kawamura started his own company in 2013, said he is confident the accident was not caused by a maintenance problem.

“There was no mechanical issues reported for the aircraft,” Koyama said.

Members of the media asked whether the purpose of the flight may have been a “commercial flyover” rather than a training flight, as claimed by Kawamura’s flight report.

Neither Chofu Airport nor Nippon Aerotech are licensed for commercial flyovers and thus cannot accommodate aircraft for that purpose.

Koyama dodged the question, saying Kawamura’s intention had nothing to do with Nippon Aerotech.

“We are only in a position to lend aircraft to clients,” including Kawamura, Koyama said. “We only heard Kawamura was going to (Izu) Oshima, and we have no clue what he would do there.”

The flight was originally scheduled to take off at 10:45 a.m. and arrive at the island one hour later, transport ministry officials said. The departure was delayed by 13 minutes. The plane had enough fuel for several hours of flight.

It was not equipped with a voice recorder or a flight recorder.

At the time of the departure, the plane was operating under visual flight rules, which is common when weather and visibility are favorable, allowing the pilot to operate the aircraft based on his or her own judgment without having to depend on radioed instructions from air traffic controllers.

The Metropolitan Police Department opened an investigation into the crash on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in death and injury. The Japan Transport Safety Board sent three investigators to the crash scene.

The plane previously sustained engine and other damage during a failed landing attempt at an airport in Sapporo in October 2004. It received an airworthiness certificate after repairs were carried out, transport ministry officials said.

The crash site is near Ajinomoto Stadium, which has a capacity of about 50,000 spectators, and an interchange of the Chuo Expressway.

Chofu Airport was opened in 1941. It was later seized by the U.S. military and was returned to Japan in 1973, according to the metropolitan government, which took over the facility’s management in 2001.

The airport has only one runway, which is 800 meters long, and is used for regular flights to and from the islands of Izu Oshima and Miyakejima, both part of the Izu chain under the administration of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. It is also used by private and business aircraft.

According to the transport ministry, a propeller plane crashed into the playground of a Chofu junior high school, about 300 meters from the site of Sunday’s accident, just after taking off on Aug. 10, 1980. All aboard the plane were killed.