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An F-16C Fighting Falcon assigned to the 35th Fighter Wing at Misawa Air Base, Japan, is seen at Sam Ratulangi International Airport, Indonesia, March 20, 2018.

An F-16C Fighting Falcon assigned to the 35th Fighter Wing at Misawa Air Base, Japan, is seen at Sam Ratulangi International Airport, Indonesia, March 20, 2018. (Richard Ebensberger/U.S. Air Force photo)

YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — A plastic part from an Air Force fighter jet detached during flight and fell to the ground Monday in northern Japan, an Air Force spokeswoman has confirmed.

“An F-16C Fighting Falcon stationed at Misawa Air Base had a small plastic piece located to the rear of the canopy blow off due to rapid decompression,” 35th Fighter Wing media operations noncommissioned officer in charge Staff Sgt. Brittany Chase said in an email Friday.

The part fell at about 12:20 p.m. west of the Hakkoda Mountains and south of Aomori City before the pilot landed without incident back at Misawa, she said.

A Tohoku Defense Bureau spokesman speaking on a customary condition of anonymity said the incident was reported to local authorities and that no injuries or damage had been reported. A U.S. safety team is looking into the incident and investigating the cause, he said.

However, he added that the Tohoku Defense Bureau had complained to Misawa commander Col. Kristopher Struve that it wasn’t notified about the incident for three days.

Also on Monday, a Misawa-based F-16D Fighting Falcon made a precautionary landing at Aomori Airport because of a leaking seal.

On Tuesday in Okinawa, safety issues forced a pair of Air Force F-15 fighter jets to make arrested landings within minutes of each other in opposite directions on the same runway at Kadena Air Base.

robson.seth@stripes.com Twitter: @SethRobson1

kusumoto.hana@stripes.com

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Seth Robson is a Tokyo-based reporter who has been with Stars and Stripes since 2003. He has been stationed in Japan, South Korea and Germany, with frequent assignments to Iraq, Afghanistan, Haiti, Australia and the Philippines.
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Hana Kusumoto is a reporter/translator who has been covering local authorities in Japan since 2002. She was born in Nagoya, Japan, and lived in Australia and Illinois growing up. She holds a journalism degree from Boston University and previously worked for the Christian Science Monitor’s Tokyo bureau.

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