The Japan Air Self-Defense Force says a trainer aircraft that crashed into a reservoir in central Japan earlier this week descended sharply while banking about one minute after takeoff. SDF personnel are now searching for two missing crewmembers.



The ASDF said on Thursday the T-4 plane took off from Komaki Air Base in Aichi Prefecture at 3:06 p.m. on Wednesday. It said the aircraft ascended stably for around one minute and had normal communications with air traffic control.



But the ASDF said the plane descended steeply while veering from east to south at an altitude of roughly 1,400 meters. It said the aircraft disappeared from radar at around 3:08 p.m. when it was near or over Lake Iruka, a reservoir in Aichi's Inuyama City.



The ASDF said the plane's flight plan shows it was scheduled to reach an altitude of 5,000 meters on its way to Nyutabaru Air Base in the southwestern prefecture of Miyazaki.



The ASDF said the plane's communications with air traffic control did not include any signs of an emergency or an abnormality with the aircraft.



It also said the communications did not contain an automatic distress signal that would be sent if the crew made an emergency escape from the cockpit.



The ASDF is working to confirm the situation and is examining the possibility the aircraft crashed before the crew could make an emergency escape.



The ASDF said search personnel have discovered part of the fuselage but have not yet found the main sections of the plane, such as the engines and most of the primary wings.



The ASDF said it grounded its roughly 200 trainer aircraft of the same model and launched emergency inspections.