A technician Accidentally Sets off an F-16 Cannon Blows Up Another F-16 at the Florennes Air Base on October 11. A technician in one of the F-16s accidentally hit the metaphorical big red button and activated its six-barreled Vulcan M16A-1 cannon. A F-16 had recently been fully fueled for a training run, and the bullets hit the gas tank. (jalopnik.com) 更多...
"An unfortunate training exercise involving an F-16 Falcon occurred yesterday. I am please to report that the pilot was not injured." Lt Col James "Rhodey" Rhodes
Will his defense be "it just went off by itself"? I dunno about this, but I would think there is more to firing the cannon than accidentally hitting one button.
The other one in the Maintenance World... "It required a Functional Check"... In this case... "Functional Check Good" and they have the other plane to prove it!
WOG Switch. Weight on Gear. Can be disabled. For example when doing ground gear checks. So, I would think that the only way a gun could be fired on the ground would be to disable the switch. Unless you're an Aircraft Carrier and back up the starter unit next to the head of a Sidewinder. That was very costly....
Directorate has opened an investigation to see what, exactly, they can do to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again, possibly with even worse results.
Sounds like typical bureaucrats when they get done the results could be worse.
Earlier this year an AMRAAM AIM-120 missile accidentally launched from an Spanish Air Force Eurofighter while airborne. Fortunately there was no damages other than the 1 million dollars it cost. So far nobody says what happened, a pilot depressing the button or that some shortcircuit was the culplit.
Does anyone remember when an F16 on live fire training strafed a New Jersey elementary school? I've searched all over but can't find photos of the damage.
Thanks, but as I said "I've searched all over but can't find PHOTOS of the damage." The links you posted lead to text only articles. I've tried Google for this story before and it hasn't been my friend.
No problem. The discussion motivated me to do some more looking. From what I scanned over on other forums it seems that the rounds were just solid projectiles, nothing incendiary, so the damage to the building may not have been very photogenic.
WOW. That's the name of the signal (Weight On Wheels) that, among other things, kept the guns from firing when the F16 was on the ground. It must not be that way anymore.
A good friend of mine retired after many years in the Air Force. He was in the fire and rescue dept. Told me about a guy with a screwdriver in his pocket working in the cockpit of a plane in a hanger. Went to get out and the screwdriver hung up in the ejection handle. Said they pretty much had to use a spatula to get him off the ceiling of the hanger.
I hate to say this, but could there possibly be a design flaw? Engineers make perfect plans all the time that don't take into account humans. A button whose placement makes perfect sense on paper is right in the way of where a human will logically put his/her hand while working. Anyone who's taken apart a PC will tell you that to replace or upgrade memory involves ripping apart all of the PC's innards. Great engineering, lousy ability to work on the product.
So, will they need to buy a few more planes? Seriously, what kind of bid / version would they replace the F-16(s) that are destroyed. I would think a min purchase size (guess 4 - 8 planes) and a more current version; presuming no deaths / major life changing injuries to the reported 2, might be a small blessing.....
The Belgians will ask AMARC to first REMOVE any and all dangerous accoutrements such as but not limited to Vulcan cannons, rails and the weapons themselves AIM9 Sidewinders, Amraams, Zunis, et all.
Stop lying. The A-4 next to John McCain's aircraft was hit by the Zuni rocket that came from a F-4. John McCain was on the receiving side of the missile.
Your perpetuation of misleading and false statements just makes you look like a fool and a troll.
Amen - Few remember that the LA Times and other national papers came out with a story, just prior to the election where McCain was running that he was a reckless pilot who had destroyed 3 airplanes ( 1 engine came apart in flight, the flight deck catastrophe where a missile hit his airplane and a lucky shot by a N Viet gunner that sent him to the Hanoi Hilton)
Tragic, and perfectly avoidable, and something like this will happen again, guaranteed, while humans are involved. And there was I thinking that this was a serious discussion forum, yet many of the smart ass comments disprove that silly notion.
here is a gigantic "no-no". there are no suitable nor satisfactory excuses for this this category of error. Also, there is not pennance than can be done to rectify this. wRITE THE aircraft off
improper training or not truly knowledgeable of the aircraft and its functions? the article says the "technicians" were injured,so unless they were on a suicide mission, that will come into play..
I think this may be just another aberration of that new devil infiltrating our media these days ... fake news! I can't see how this could have possibly occurred as reported. There are too many built-in safeguards to prevent this sort of thing happening when a modern day fighter jet is sitting on the ramp.
This is obviously a self-inspired story from a self-inspired “journalist”. Poor spelling and even worse grammer marks this as comedic story-telling. No military aviation would allow a loaded and active gun pod on a fueled aircraft sitting on a parking ramp. THEN, there is the disregard in this fantasy report for interlocks and safeties: Armament systems cannot be armed, much less fired, while the landing gear are down and bearing weight. Finally, there’s the issue of safery pins and their highly visible flags. And what about the accompanying photo that screams “amatuer”.
Nope- somebody snookered the news publication that printed this tripe and, unfortunately, FlighAware.