EDITORIAL: Chopper crash cover-up

The 6th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters was found to have withheld vital information concerning the Aug. 18 helicopter crash that killed all five people on board.

The crash occurred between demonstration flights for legal apprentices who passed bar exams, but the 6th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters initially concealed the fact.

The purposes of flights are vital information in any air accident investigation. Refusing to provide this information could well be construed as an attempt to withhold evidence.

The coast guard helicopter crashed after hitting power transmission lines strung between islands in the Seto Inland Sea off Kagawa Prefecture. Coast guard officials initially told the press that the chopper had been "on patrol."

More than a full day after the accident, coast guard officials, challenged by the media, admitted the craft was also part of a demonstration flight mission.

Noting that the officials should be "truly contrite for concealing information that could give rise to doubt," transport minister Seiji Maehara ordered the coast guard chief to report on the circumstances of the cover-up.

The demonstration flight had been planned as part of an outing for the legal interns who were on a training program at the Okayama District Public Prosecutors Office.

The coast guard had arranged two demonstration flights and sea patrols. The chopper crashed on its way to the second demonstration flight.

There is nothing wrong with such demonstration flights themselves. The coast guard even invites schoolchildren on outings on the annual Marine Day and other occasions to familiarize the public with the duties of the coast guard.

Why, then, did senior officers and others at the 6th Regional Headquarters decide to keep that particular flight a secret?

The coast guard refers accidents at sea to the public prosecutors office. If the officers thought they were doing the Okayama District Public Prosecutors Office a favor by not reporting the demonstration flight, we must say that is the sort of bureaucratic "mutual help" mentality that is not shared by the general public.

But Toshihiro Hayashi, chief of the 6th Regional Headquarters, told a news conference, "What is common sense to the coast guard is not always so to society at large."

While Hayashi acknowledged it was his decision to keep mum on the demonstration flight, he also asserted there was no "systematic cover-up."

Given the inconsistencies in his assertions, we must say he mismanaged the whole affair rather badly.

The waters around the accident site are heavily trafficked, and it was most fortunate that no vessel was affected by the crash. Power transmission lines have been strung between islands everywhere. Aviation laws were reinforced after a helicopter carrying Shin-etsu Broadcasting reporters hit a power line and crashed in Nagano Prefecture in 2004.

The fact that this type of accident was repeated last week must be taken seriously. The cause of the accident needs to be determined, of course, but the government should also consider reviewing the pertinent laws.

The Japan Transport Safety Board, which is investigating the case, must find the cause of the accident and reveal the reasons for the cover-up.

Both the Japan Coast Guard and the Japan Transport Safety Board are external organs of the Ministry of Land, Transport, Infrastructure and Tourism. Only last year, the board found itself in hot water after it leaked an unpublished accident report to West Japan Railway Co. regarding the derailment of a company train.

Last week's helicopter crash is to be investigated as a criminal case, so the Japan Coast Guard itself will have jurisdiction. Coast guard officials must not try to "protect their own" at the 6th Regional Headquarters.

They should seek the cooperation of police forces if necessary.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Aug. 24