Give the guys a break - in broad daylight it's really difficult to tell the difference between cows and Iraquis! And Yorkshire is somewhere near the Middle East isn't it?
They were lucky. A work colleague of mine had a similar 'accident' whilst he was instructing for the Australian Air Force. The 'student' managed to fire a live rocket from a Skyhawk instead of drop an inert bomb on the target during a low-level run. The rocket powered off into the distance landed well outside the range, causing a forest fire that took a week to control : /
Ah - the aircraft manufacturer (McDonnel Douglas) was actually blamed.
On the pilot's side are a row of switches that control the weaponry, and that the instructor cannot see nor reach. These are all identical and are UP to ARM and vice versa, except one - the MASTER ARM switch (which works in the opposite sense).
Procedure was to arm the bomb and Master Arm for the bomb run, then disarm the Master Arm during the pull-up (as it is very embarassing to drop bomb on unsuspecting civilians, as happened in Yorkshire).
However, on one run the student had flicked the wrong switch, so arming a rocket. When it came to the next run, the instructor chastised the pilot for leaving the Master Arm on, not realising the mistake. So when the pilot squeezed the trigger, off went a fully live rocket. Lessons learned all round I suspect (and it took the whole Air Base to help control the fire).
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2004-01-12 07:31 am (UTC)Run for the hills...
Date: 2004-01-12 07:32 am (UTC)Again...
Again...
Again...
Re: Run for the hills...
Date: 2004-01-12 07:38 am (UTC)Come, friendly bombs, and fall on Holme
Date: 2004-01-12 08:08 am (UTC)Re: Run for the hills...
Date: 2004-01-12 08:14 am (UTC)I suppose the desert can get a bit green at times,
Maybe there are some WMD's hiding out there??
Re: Run for the hills...
Date: 2004-01-12 08:18 am (UTC)Re: Run for the hills...
Date: 2004-01-12 08:50 am (UTC)Come hell or blue on blue fire incident
no subject
Date: 2004-01-12 08:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-12 08:48 am (UTC)But I'll wager that not even all the WMD's in Yorkshire can be located...
no subject
Date: 2004-01-13 01:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-13 03:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-13 05:28 am (UTC)On the pilot's side are a row of switches that control the weaponry, and that the instructor cannot see nor reach. These are all identical and are UP to ARM and vice versa, except one - the MASTER ARM switch (which works in the opposite sense).
Procedure was to arm the bomb and Master Arm for the bomb run, then disarm the Master Arm during the pull-up (as it is very embarassing to drop bomb on unsuspecting civilians, as happened in Yorkshire).
However, on one run the student had flicked the wrong switch, so arming a rocket. When it came to the next run, the instructor chastised the pilot for leaving the Master Arm on, not realising the mistake. So when the pilot squeezed the trigger, off went a fully live rocket. Lessons learned all round I suspect (and it took the whole Air Base to help control the fire).
no subject
Date: 2004-01-13 11:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-14 01:57 am (UTC)