The US and Japan are close to reaching an agreement about returning airspace over Yokota Air Base back to Japanese control, according to Associated Press news service. Remember that last spring US officials called such speculation “premature.” Now it would appear the move to ease operations for commercial airlines operating in Japan is set to return an unspecified amount of airspace that would provide more direct routes to civilian airports. The transfer date, reports AP, likely would happen by September 2008.
The Michigan Air National Guard’s 127th Air Refueling Group recently put together what may be a first of its kind in the Air Force: a training program that teaches KC-135 tanker crews how to perform specialized fueling operations (SFO): ground-based procedures that could help gas up military aircraft in a…