Yo Ben..

[Phillbo]

How does something like this happen?

http://www.yahoo.com/gma/f-16-accide...204004126.html

I would assume there would be fail safes in place to prevent an accidental firing of the guns on the ground...

[Truckman]

I saw that the other day, Bo...And there are safeguards and checklist procedures to prevent such happenings - at least in the US Air Force...I can't speak for the Belgians though...The M61 guns are the same as the ones I worked with, and are electrically operated...By that I mean the barrel assembly turns with an electric motor, and the cartridges are electrically primed...F-105's and F-4's would have used an electrical disconnect on the ground held open with a PIP pin having a "Remove Before Flight" streamer attached to it...I would hate to be the crew chief who signed off the checklist stating all safety precautions were examined and in place if they were not...The guns are never charged until just prior to a mission in which they might be needed, so further explanation is needed as to why a round from the belt was even chambered...

From the amount of damage it looks like a full 200 round can of 20mm may have been emptied...Belgians have too much French blood in them anyway, and shouldn't be allowed near real guns......Ben

[Truckman]

Supplement: The first reports I read indicated many rounds fired...The link Bo provided said three rounds hit the aircraft (maybe more were fired and missed)...But if the fuel tanks were set aflame, it's possible the gun was loaded with either HEI or API or even tracer rounds which have an amount of white phosphorous (WP or Willie Peter) which burns on contact with oxygen...I'd like to read the full accident investigation report to know all the details......Ben

[TxMusky]

The mechanics being treated for hearing loss was not from the firing of the gun, it was from the royal asschewing the chief was giving them for allowing it to happen at all.

[Phillbo]

Someone screwed the pooch big time...

[wacojoe]

Someone screwed the pooch big time...

Not as badly as the 22 F-22 jets left in the throws of the recent hurricane in Florida. It was so bad they are not telling us the extent of the damage to them.