Belgian Air Force F-16 destroyed by friendly fire

[ScudRunner-d95]

[url=https://www.aviation24.be/military-airc ... ssion=true]https://www.aviation24.be/military-airc ... ssion=true[/url]




[color=rgb(17, 17, 17)][font=PT Serif][size=18px]On 12 October, [b][i]Aviation24.be[/i][/b] received more information on the incident: a technician was working on an F-16 when he[b][u] accidentally activated the six-barrels 20mm Vulcan M61A-1 cannon of that F-16. The cannon was loaded and some bullets hit another F-16AM (FA-128).[/u][/b] That aircraft had just been refueled and was – together with another F-16 – being prepared for a (training) mission. Due to the bullets, the F-16AM exploded and damaged the other F-16.[/size][/font][/color]
[color=rgb(17, 17, 17)][font=PT Serif][/size][size=18px]Two technicians were injured after the blast, the Belgian Aviation Safety Directorate opened an investigation into the accident. The Belgian Air Force had 60 active F-16 aircraft remaining, including 48 on duty for NATO.[/size][/font][/color]






[img width=500 height=333]https://wwwaviation24be-q41r3jh.stackpa ... nnes-3.jpg[/img]


[img width=375 height=500]https://wwwaviation24be-q41r3jh.stackpa ... nnes-2.png[/img]

[Eric Janson]

Very lucky they didn't lose more aircraft.
Amazing that nobody was killed - looks like gross negligence to me.
Is that normal - doing maintenance on an aircraft with a loaded 20mm Cannon?

[Trey Kule]

It would appear so

[ScudRunner-d95]

Trudeau will buy it

[digits]

The Belgian airforce is so professional and invincible that they need their mechanics to shoot them down to know how it feels to experience defeat  8)

[Colonel]

Only four more mistakes, and that ground crew guy will be a Russian Ace!

[Slick Goodlin]

[quote author=Colonel Sanders link=topic=9190.msg25243#msg25243 date=1539646942]
Only four more mistakes, and that ground crew guy will be a Russian Ace!
[/quote]
Reminds me of the story of my grandfather.  In just one day during the Battle of Britain he was responsible for the demise of fifteen Nazi pilots and flight crew in six different downed bombers.  Some say he might have been the worst mechanic the Luftwaffe ever had...

[Chris]

Tech 1: "I crossthreaded a bolt, took me a couple hours to extract it and retap the threads."


Tech 2: "I forgot to connect a hydraulic line, took all day to clean up the spill."


Tech 3: "Hold my beer"

[Colonel]

Beware the temptations of the Dark Side