Monday, October 15, 2018

Last Friday on Belgium’s Florennes Air Force Base, a maintenance tech accidentally fired the Vulcan 20mm gun on the F-16 jet he was working, destroying another F-16


The F-16 that was struck by the large bullets quickly caught fire and exploded, since it was loaded with fuel and being readied for an afternoon flight


The accident is quite weird: it’s not clear why the technician was working on an armed aircraft that close to the flight line. Not even the type of inspection or work has been unveiled. For sure it must have been a check that activated the gun even though the aircraft was on the ground: the use of the onboard weapons (including the gun) is usually blocked by a fail-safe switch when the aircraft has the gear down with the purpose of preventing similar accidents.


at 6600 rounds per minute... it's a good bet to say a hundred or more were fired. 110 per second.
This isn't the gun in the A10 Thunderbolt/Warthog, that one is an Avenger 30 mm 3900 rpm gun

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/technician-accidentally-fires-vulcan-cannon-and-destroys-f-16-ground-belgium-33476
https://theaviationist.com/2018/10/14/f-16-completely-destroyed-by-another-f-16-after-mechanic-accidentally-fires-cannon-on-the-ground-in-belgium/

10 comments:

  1. The link said another F-16 was damaged in the sane incident. Will he then need to nail 3 or 4 more to become an ace?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No he is ace already, because he is the first ever european who shot down an F-16.

      Delete
    2. That award would go to the crew of Bosnian SA-6 launcher that shot down F-16C in 1995.

      Delete
  2. A multimillion dollar junk now 😕

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yeah that, not to mention a host of pins securing the weapon with red streamers that have "remove before flight" printed on them. Too much experience with such things has taught me that it typically takes at least three mistakes/oversights/failures to result in a major mishap. I'll guarantee you the landing gear up and locked switch or lever was replaced and you installed incorrectly. Add to that power on an armed aircraft parked in the wrong place, mix in a technician assuming everything was safe and secure, and you get this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ok. back in 1994 or so, on of the destroyers in Pearl Harbor let loose a couple 20 or 30mm rounds into the hills... because some guy was doing preventative maintenance, and had no brains. He failed to first insure the Sea-Whiz gatling gun was unloaded. It made the local newspaper

      Delete
    2. Another "this'll be the highlight of your miserable little career" moment.

      Delete
  4. Happened here in Denmark too in 1982: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_Harpoon_missile_misfire_incident

    ReplyDelete
  5. If you think you had a bad day at work... remember that mechanic day.

    ReplyDelete