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...
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...
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
The future is forged on the anvil of history...The interpreter of history wields the hammer... - Unknown author...
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
The future is forged on the anvil of history...The interpreter of history wields the hammer... - Unknown author...
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.
Someone screwed the pooch big time...
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“You can vote your way into socialism, but you have to shoot your way out.” — Too fundamental to have an attribution
There were quite a few that were down for maintenance, and unable to be flown out...They had to stay...Here's a few that left Tyndal AFB earlier and were safe on my old base at Spangdahlem, West Germany before any hurricane damage......Ben
The future is forged on the anvil of history...The interpreter of history wields the hammer... - Unknown author...
Speaking of Tyndal, here's a video I found of load crews doing the same job I had over 50 years ago using the exact same equipment on modern F-22's...The little low-slung dragster-looking device is an MJ-1 bomb lift truck...We used them to load missiles, gunpods, rocket launchers plus nuclear and conventional bombs...They're powered by a 25 HP Continental air-cooled V-4 gasoline engine...The ones in the video look identical to the ones we used as loadcrew members on F-105's...I moved from load crews to weapons release when my wing transitioned from F-105's to F-4's......Ben
The future is forged on the anvil of history...The interpreter of history wields the hammer... - Unknown author...
Does the mechanic get to paint a little F-16 on his tool box?
The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible - Arthur C. Clarke
Speaking of the F-22...
https://youtu.be/WEFyEP8HT8E
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“You can vote your way into socialism, but you have to shoot your way out.” — Too fundamental to have an attribution
Great video, Joe...For the uninitiated, there is no audio communication between the aircraft's crew chief and pilot...While parked on the ground, the crew chief OWNS the aircraft and IS the aircraft commander...Once the crew chief signals the pilot that all pre-flight ground actions have been complied with, he releases the aircraft to the control of the pilot who THEN becomes the aircraft commander...
All this is done with hand signals only, which vary between services - IE the USAF and Navy/Marines do not necessarily use the same signals between ground and flight crews...After dark, the ground crew will augment the marshalling signals with handheld lights...It may appear that ground crew members are looking straight ahead at all times, but in reality their eyes are constantly scanning the aircraft surfaces for anomalies, and also scanning the ground for FOD...Marshalling hand signals may be similar, but not necessarily identical between not only branches of service, but cooperating nations participating in joint exercises...As an example here is a rundown of Australian hand signals...Even the CAF, which I observed last weekend, has their own instructions...
Hand signals between pilots take on a new importance as discussed here...The downloadable PDF on this page is most interesting......Ben
The future is forged on the anvil of history...The interpreter of history wields the hammer... - Unknown author...
Great info Ben.
I saw the Raptor in Oshkosh a few years back... That thing can turn like nothing I've seen before.