A Turkish Airlines passenger aircraft erroneously diverted from its route and flew over Tokyo Tower and other central parts of the Japanese capital last month, Japanese transport ministry officials said Friday.

The flight did not pose a safety threat to its passengers or people on the ground as the plane flew at sufficient altitude, but the ministry requested the airline to take preventive steps and alerted other air carriers to avoid similar incidents, they said.

The Turkish Airlines aircraft bound for Istanbul departed Tokyo's Haneda airport on the late evening of Sept. 22.

Instead of flying east over the coast of Tokyo Bay it flew northwest over Tokyo Tower and other parts of the capital before turning southeast toward the bay, the officials said.

The aircraft later reported to the ministry that its switching from manual to automatic control did not work, they said.

The measurement of noise at the time the aircraft passed near Shinagawa Ward in Tokyo was maximum 83 decibels, which is around the same as the loudness in an underground railway car.

==Kyodo

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