Belgian F-16 incident

[Enzo the Magnificent]

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/f-16-destroyed-on-airstrip-after-man-accidentally-triggers-vulcan-cannon-while-working-on-fighter-jet-nearby/ar-BBOprX1?li=BBoPWjQ&ocid=HPCDHP

 

An F-16 fighter jet exploded into flames on a Belgian airstrip after a maintenance worker accidentally pulled the trigger of a Vulcan cannon while working on another plane parked nearby, according to local reports.

 

Don't these things have a WOW switch?

 

That's a rhetorical question, by the way...     

 

 

[Paul J]

Kill marking stencil coming up.....!

[Enzo the Magnificent]

The RAF Phantom that negligently shot down a Jaguar in 1982 gained a kill marking quite quickly.

 

and then lost it again just as quickly...    

[whiskey]

I am still extremely stupified over this. I cannot believe that someone would be so ignorant to the fact that the weapon system was LOADED with LIVE ammunition while doing ANYTHING on it. I mean one cannot say that "it was an alert aircraft and that's why it was armed," because that would so stupid to be doing any sort of maintenance on an alert aircraft. Someone seriously didn't do a very good job on this one and not just because of the two other aircraft being destroyed/damaged, but because fail-safes and procedures were not followed.

[Enzo the Magnificent]

EggZACKerly!   

 

Armed aircraft ALWAYS have signs on them.  Protocols are in place to ensure that no maintenance is carried out on them until they have been disarmed and downloaded.  Then, there are the engineering controls that ensure that a firing circuit cannot be made if there is weight on the wheels.  After that, we have the Master Armament Safety Brake which is always in place when an potentially armed aircraft is on the deck - whether or not that aircraft is scheduled to be armed.

 

There are numerous safety layers which would have to be actively bypassed for this sort of incident to occur.   My experience with operating with the Belgian armed forces is that they are incredibly professional.  I can't see this occurring as a simple mistake. 

[JohnT]

I recall reading of an incident where a Hunter suffered a short circuit and pumped some canon shells across an airfield in the general direction of the neighbouring squadron. The pilot was relieved when the incident was safely replicated and the fault traced in the electrics.  I think there was a large beer peace offering.  What I do recall is that the CO of the recipient squadron called over and instead of the expected shouting match simply said "If you wait a minute we will load up and fire back" .  Class act.

[whiskey]

6 hours ago, Enzo Matrix said:

EggZACKerly!   

 

Armed aircraft ALWAYS have signs on them.  Protocols are in place to ensure that no maintenance is carried out on them until they have been disarmed and downloaded.  Then, there are the engineering controls that ensure that a firing circuit cannot be made if there is weight on the wheels.  After that, we have the Master Armament Safety Brake which is always in place when an potentially armed aircraft is on the deck - whether or not that aircraft is scheduled to be armed.

 

There are numerous safety layers which would have to be actively bypassed for this sort of incident to occur.   My experience with operating with the Belgian armed forces is that they are incredibly professional.  I can't see this occurring as a simple mistake. 

 

It's actually zacH (no K) but I guess I can let it slide😂

[Fredag]

When the RNZAF had the Aeromacchis, they had a similar incident,though only scared a few cows in the neighbouring farmers paddock.

Turned out the Safe pin on the .50cal gunpods only worked if inserted one way,though could be fitted turned about .you live and learn.

[whiskey]

So I did a quick search looking for other incidents of a similar nature and other than the obvious disaster on the Forrestal I couldn't find anything. That's either a really good thing or it's just that I couldn't actually find anything. When I was on Bradley's it was (unfortunately) common for negligent discharges to occur with all 3 weapon systems we utilized. I did find this however, although it's not exactly related.

 

https://www.foxnews.com/story/f-16-accidentally-fires-on-school

 

That pilot had to feel like a total schmuck afterwards.

[Mike]

Saw this last night, and the article said that it had hit two other airframes, so I guess there was another machine damaged, but didn't go on fire.

 

it's a bit of a head-scratcher how they managed to be working on an aircraft with live ammo firstly, and secondly no safety engaged.

[j-fever]

I imagine they might be re-thinking how to park armed jets?

[TallBlondJohn]

Just another kill-marking story - During the Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal South Dakota set her own spotting aircraft (sitting unmanned on the fantail as it was a night action) on fire with her first salvo. The burning aircraft made a nice aiming point for enemy gunners, but the next salvo blew the lot overboard solving that problem. The next day some wag painted an aircraft kill on the stern 16" turret.