Okinawa Times wrote that in response to the recent incident in which tires fell from a U.S. military helicopter at Camp Hansen, the mayors of Kin and Ginoza made a request to the Defense Ministry’s Okinawa bureau on Monday for the closure of the base’s Landing Zone Falcon, which is near a residential area. This is the first time for the local municipalities to call for the closure of the landing zone. The head of the defense bureau responded by saying: “We will ask the U.S. military to minimize the impact on local communities. External lift training is necessary for their participation in humanitarian assistance and fire extinguishing operations”. The Ginoza mayor told reporters after the meeting: “We have asked them not to use the landing zone before, but now we have no choice but to ask for the closure of the landing zone following the accident during external lift training last December, the Osprey crash landing in shallow waters off Nago last December, and the latest incident also during external lift training.” The mayors also called for the immediate suspension of external lift training, U.S. military aircraft training over residential areas, and low-altitude and nighttime flights.