TOKYO —

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism began a three-week-long inspection Monday of Skymark Airlines’ head office in Tokyo after a series of incidents threatening flight safety came to light.
   
The unusually lengthy inspection by the ministry, which normally spends about three days on safety checks for a flight operator, comes after recent revelations that a co-pilot of the budget carrier was found to have taken photos inside the cockpit during a commercial flight and one of its airplanes flew higher than ordered by an air traffic controller.
   
The Skymark airplane from Sapporo flew over Ibaraki Prefecture some 1,800 meters higher than the 4,000 meters set by an air traffic controller before landing at Haneda airport Thursday afternoon, according to the ministry and the airline.
   
Transport minister Seiji Maehara said the ministry ‘‘has responded strictly’’ to the incidents because it ‘‘would be too late if an accident actually happens.’‘
   
The ministry also plans to investigate into how Skymark management was involved in safety matters in connection with the revelation that President Shinichi Nishikubo and other executives did not accept a flight captain’s request that a cabin attendant be replaced.
   
The captain’s request was refused and then his contract was terminated. The Feb 5 flight from Haneda to Fukuoka was operated as scheduled after the captain was replaced by another pilot with the rest of the crew unchanged.
   
The incident led the ministry to issue a warning to Skymark and order the company to review safety measures.
   
In 2006, the transport ministry held similarly strict safety checks of Skymark for its failure to properly conduct aircraft maintenance work.

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4 Comments

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  paulinusa at 08:01 AM JST - 16th March

  O.K., everyone's wants to know more details:"co-pilot was found to have taken photos inside the cockpit" and captain/cabin attendant incident.

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  zurcronium at 10:57 AM JST - 16th March

  Never had a problem on Skymark. At least the wheels stay on the plane as opposed to JAL.

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  The758 at 11:52 AM JST - 16th March

  As long as it wasn't during the sterile period, what's wrong with taking pictures in the cockpit?

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  SebastianFlyte at 02:09 PM JST - 16th March

  Maybe they can change their name to Sky Lark!?

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