Two planes of the Air Self-Defense Force Blue Impulse acrobatic flight team went missing with three crew members aboard Tuesday morning over the sea off Miyagi Prefecture, ASDF officials said.
The incident has shocked ASDF officials as it occurred so soon after the June 28 crash of a C-1 air transport in the Sea of Japan off Tottori Prefecture. Five crew members remain missing from that crash.
The two T-4 jet trainers disappeared from radar around 10:20 a.m. while returning to the ASDF's Matsushima base in the prefecture after training with four other jets, the officials said.