Belgian F-16 20mm cannon incident

[The Basket]

I have a few questions as I have never dealt with combat aircraft.
Why was the F-16 armed with cannon rounds? If the aircraft was undergoing maintenance then shouldn't live rounds been removed? And if the gun was tested then surely you don't test aim by shooting at another F-16!

I don't understand what happened here unless it was total brain fade.

 

[Torch]

3 more and the ground crewman will be an ace...Probably bypassed all safety checks.Doubt he has a career in the Belgium air force any longer.

 

[Torch]

F-16 Completely Destroyed By Another F-16 After Mechanic Accidentally Fires Cannon On The Ground In Belgium

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

I figured when the aircraft is on the ground the Weight on Wheels (WOW) switch would prevent this.

For instance on the Blackhawk any external stores on the pylons cannot be jettisoned when on the ground because of the WOW switch.

Unless the maintenance team had bypassed the WOW switch for some kind of test.

 

[vikingBerserker]

Somebody did not do a Lock-Out Tag-Out. Just plain carelessness.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Somebody did not do a Lock-Out Tag-Out. Just plain carelessness.

Agreed, but that still should not negate a WOW switch (if the F-16 armament system works through those).

 

[The Basket]

Why would an aircraft going through maintenance be armed?
And if it was armed then surely the crew must do a check beforehand?

Very lucky no one was killed and this could be of been much worse.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

Something obvioulsy went very wrong - I'd like to know what the BAF had in their operating procedures to address this.

I could tell you that my time in the ground-based US Navy there was NEVER any maintenance being performed on an aircraft carrying live ordnance. Our aircraft were armed in a "red box" and maintainers stayed out of the box. If something was discovered during the pre-flight or during run up, the aircraft was shut down, bombs off-loaded and issued addressed.

I know the USAF has a similar process, maybe some of my fellow zoomies might chime in. For the life of me I cannot understand why anyone, especially in piece time would attempted to do any maintenance on an armed aircraft!

 

[michaelmaltby]

The canon sure is effective .....

 

[tyrodtom]

When I was at NKP Thailand in 1968 we had a incident somewhat like that.
A A1E on the ready pad awaiting a possible pilot rescue support mission. They always had some bombed up ready to go just in case.

The aircraft on the ready pad were always pointed in a safe direction just in case of somebody screwing up and arming a firing circuit on the ground, and a weapon gets fired by accident.

But someone didn't figure right on the problem with a A1E being a taildragger with the wing guns being elevated.

Bomb dumps are always quite separated from the main airbase for obvious reasons. We were about a half mile from the end of the runway.
The 20mms didn't impact in our bomb dump, but in the new bomb dump under construction right beside us.

We didn't notice any gunfire, just a big cloud of dust in the new dump area. And all the construction workers getting the hell out of there .
It was only about 1 second of firing, but that was 40 or 50 rounds from 4 guns. But the only injuries was from the quick evacuation.
It took a couple of days before EOD cleared the area, and then they had to bribe the Thai workers to come back. They lost about a week or 10 days before construction started again.

 

[GrauGeist]

Agreed, but that still should not negate a WOW switch (if the F-16 armament system works through those).

I believe the F-16 has a lockout that's engaged when the gear is extended...perhaps BiffF15 might have better details, but going back to a maintenance guy working on a live aircraft, how was that even permitted?

And even then, the discharge of the cannon cannot be "accidental", it has to be switched on and the trigger depressed...you don't just "bump" something and it goes off like that.

 

[tyrodtom]

Under war conditions shortcuts are taken, but that has nothing to do with this F-16 incident.
More than one person would have to ignore several steps for this to happen in a peace time setting.

 

[BiffF15]

I believe the F-16 has a lockout that's engaged when the gear is extended...perhaps BiffF15 might have better details, but going back to a maintenance guy working on a live aircraft, how was that even permitted?

And even then, the discharge of the cannon cannot be "accidental", it has to be switched on and the trigger depressed...you don't just "bump" something and it goes off like that.

The Eagle has a weight on wheels switch as wel (it will fire the gun with the gear down until the aircraft lands and gets the wow switch compressed). There are several things tied into the wow switch, not just the gun. However the guns, along with other weapons systems have a need to be tested on the ground. With that in mind MX has to have the ability to do those tests, which requires a ground over ride. The Eagle had that switch, a lift to lock, in the cockpit. I have no idea where the Viper has theirs. All combat aircraft I would assume have this as all will need to test ordinance firing capabilities.

In addition to the cockpit mounted switch for over ride, the master arm switch must be on, and the safety pins pulled from the gun, along with another handle on the gun released if I remember correctly. The gun can be allowed to spin (it's a Gatling set up), and if not fully armed will not fire (safety pin still holding the breech back?). I have had this happen. Weapons system must also be out of the training mode. Lots of safety measures had to be removed for an Eagle to fire on the ground or in the air. Also would need to have part of the hydraulic system operating as that was required to spin the barrels, as well as DC electrics. I would assume the Viper is very similar since it's the same gun.

Once those safety checks are removed, (pins pulled, master arm to hot, weight on wheels off or over ride selected, hydraulic and DC power), pulling on the trigger will cause it to fire regardless of which weapons are in priority (USAF jets only).

Cheers,
Biff

 

[Tieleader]

The Eagle has a weight on wheels switch as wel (it will fire the gun with the gear down until the aircraft lands and gets the wow switch compressed). There are several things tied into the wow switch, not just the gun. However the guns, along with other weapons systems have a need to be tested on the ground. With that in mind MX has to have the ability to do those tests, which requires a ground over ride. The Eagle had that switch, a lift to lock, in the cockpit. I have no idea where the Viper has theirs. All combat aircraft I would assume have this as all will need to test ordinance firing capabilities.

In addition to the cockpit mounted switch for over ride, the master arm switch must be on, and the safety pins pulled from the gun, along with another handle on the gun released if I remember correctly. The gun can be allowed to spin (it's a Gatling set up), and if not fully armed will not fire (safety pin still holding the breech back?). I have had this happen. Weapons system must also be out of the training mode. Lots of safety measures had to be removed for an Eagle to fire on the ground or in the air. Also would need to have part of the hydraulic system operating as that was required to spin the barrels, as well as DC electrics. I would assume the Viper is very similar since it's the same gun.

Once those safety checks are removed, (pins pulled, master arm to hot, weight on wheels off or over ride selected, hydraulic and DC power), pulling on the trigger will cause it to fire regardless of which weapons are in priority (USAF jets only).

Cheers,
Biff

Sounds like WAY to many safety lock outs and procedures were overlooked for this to happen. And then hitting another A/C that just happened to be in the way of the gun....yeh ,right.
Am I wrong in my assumptions?

 

[BiffF15]

Sounds like WAY to many safety lock outs and procedures were overlooked for this to happen. And then hitting another A/C that just happened to be in the way of the gun....yeh ,right.
Am I wrong in my assumptions?

No you are not. However, I don't know where the jet was. If in a combat arena, at least on the Eagle, we put the breech area safety pins in place from the outside of the aircraft (where the pin and a streamer would be visible). If not flying a sortie where the gun was to be fired the pin was installed from inside the aircraft and a door was left open or the bottom of the pin was visible from the ground during the walk around. Been over a decade and several aircraft ago, so I will have to call a bud for a refresher.

During alert status or when flying a combat sortie the jet can be armed quite easily as I think only the breech pin was installed and was pulled during engine start on a scramble or by the End of a Runway (EOR) crew during last checks before takeoff.

Regardless of all the above, you did NOT point your armed jet at other jets or people unless required for taxi out or in. And, you NEVER pulled the trigger unless airborne and not pointed at anything you valued. We would do a trigger check on every training sortie prior to fighting to insure the gun was truly safe.

Safety steps were most likely missed (as compared to my knowledge of USAF procedures).

Cheers,
Biff

 

[Tieleader]

No you are not. However, I don't know where the jet was. If in a combat arena, at least on the Eagle, we put the breech area safety pins in place from the outside of the aircraft (where the pin and a streamer would be visible). If not flying a sortie where the gun was to be fired the pin was installed from inside the aircraft and a door was left open or the bottom of the pin was visible from the ground during the walk around. Been over a decade and several aircraft ago, so I will have to call a bud for a refresher.

During alert status or when flying a combat sortie the jet can be armed quite easily as I think only the breech pin was installed and was pulled during engine start on a scramble or by the End of a Runway (EOR) crew during last checks before takeoff.

Regardless of all the above, you did NOT point your armed jet at other jets or people unless required for taxi out or in. And, you NEVER pulled the trigger unless airborne and not pointed at anything you valued. We would do a trigger check on every training sortie prior to fighting to insure the gun was truly safe.

Safety steps were most likely missed (as compared to my knowledge of USAF procedures).

Cheers,
Biff

If in a combat arena, at least on the Eagle, we put the breech area safety pins in place from the outside of the aircraft (where the pin and a streamer would be visible).

Are those the red streamers you usually see hanging off the various parts and weapons in pixs?

 

[tyrodtom]

If you look at several pictures of different airbases you'll notice some of the aircraft are pointed at each other on the parking aprons.
They don't have a infinite amount of room, and the aircraft have to be contained in a small area for security.
And since the aircraft are parked that way so they can be accessed by the pilots and ground crews so they can be started quickly and get airborne quickly, I'm assuming they're armed.

No problem as long as no one bypasses all the safety measures.

 

[Tieleader]

Thought there would be some sort of regulation that says to park them parallel or something like that to prevent just such an incident.

 

[GrauGeist]

Thanks for weighing in, Biff.

I'm not overly versed in modern combat component procedure aboard these ships, but something doesn't seem to add up.

And I keep reading the details about the incident and certain things stand out, like the fully armed F-16 was in a hangar, for instance.

I know that Belgium has been going through a considerable amount civil turmoil recently and this has me wondering if it may be a case of poor vetting and security.

 

[Tieleader]

Thanks for weighing in, Biff.

I'm not overly versed in modern combat component procedure aboard these ships, but something doesn't seem to add up.

And I keep reading the details about the incident and certain things stand out, like the fully armed F-16 was in a hangar, for instance.

I know that Belgium has been going through a considerable amount civil turmoil recently and this has me wondering if it may be a case of poor vetting and security.

So I'm not the only one.