Technician Accidentally Fires Vulcan Cannon And Destroys An F-16 On The Ground Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Never ever point your fully loaded F16 at anything you aren't prepared to destroy... Always assume the F16 is loaded, even when you know it's not... Never leave your cocked and loaded F16 where someone can accidentally find it and play with it... Pretty sure NRA insurance would cover it...
Either that or promoted. "The pheasants are beneath me." - SoCal to az "I have very few pet peeves in life . . . " - PeterS "Change is inedible" - fc2
The squat switch should have prevented that, so he undoubtedly had that bypassed, as well. Takes multiple screw-ups to pull that one off.
You may be right, and I can’t recall with great certainty, but I only remember needing power and master arm on...never pull the trigger on the ground. It may be simpler than we think. I remember going through the accident scenario in my head when cold-cocking the jet on alert. I remember thinking it would fire. Again, time fogs the memory.
Not so much...never heard of a holdback tool or a electrical safety pin. That doesn’t mean they don’t exist, but they have never been on a plane I ever inspected or T’d up for alert or for a mission requiring live ordinance. If the plane was armed, then it was either going to fly or had returned from flying. These tools and pins, if they exist, would not necessarily be installed. My point being, it may not have required more than a couple stupid steps...
Will- Affirmative and it is quite common to bypass the squat switches when working on an armament or landing gear issue. Not quite as common to arm the master arm switch, though.
Perhaps it's a ground crew thing? This page from a doc for the M61A1 refers to both a holdback assembly and safety pin. http://navyaviation.tpub.com/14313/css/Figure-6-15-F-14-M61A1-Gun-Installation-153.htm "The clearing sector holdback assembly and safety pin (fig. 6-16) is used to clear the gun manually. With the clearing sector holdback assembly installed, the breech bolt assemblies are diverted to the clearing cam path. Keep the clearing sector holdback assembly and safety pin installed until just before aircraft flight."
I know of several incidents like this from WW2 when a mechanic triggered a cal. 50 in a P-40 and sprayed the ramp until he jammed a wrench into it to stop it. I also heard the story of the ejection seat of a P-80 being fired through the canopy when somebody crossed some wires.
Just curious... Does the fact that this was a Belgian F16 (presumably being serviced by a Belgian AF maintenance crew) have any significance to this discussion? CW
Reminds me of the time when one F-15 pilot torqued off a live missile at another F-15 and came close to knocking out of the air. Image Unavailable, Please Login Relevant thread: http://www.f-16.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14890
I’m glad to hear there supposed to be safety switches. Can’t fix dumb. Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat
In the early 80's there was some ground tests being performed on an F-16 at WPAFB. Plane had to be moved from an acoustic chamber to another test facility which required the wings and H-tail to be removed. In the process of all this R&Ring quite a few people sat in the cockpit. Later was discovered that the ejection seat still had a live charge in it. Not sure if just pulling the handles would have fired it or whether some (electrical) power is also required. Suffice to say I'm glad I did not attempt it.
Jim- First you have to remove the safety pins and then the seat will fire regardless of whether power is applied or not. If your generator stops and your aux quits or runs out of hydrazine (on an F-16) inflight, you still want to be able to eject. USAF stopped letting civilians sit in ejection seats at airshows after several accidents long ago.
Back in about 1972, I sat in a Navy A-7 at an airshow at Cecil Field in Jacksonville. Does the Navy have the same policy?
In addition to all of the safety equipment and systems that are provided (and mentioned here already), in my day, all ordinance was always unloaded before the aircraft entered a maintenance hanger. Of 22 years working on the Phantom, Eagle and Warthog the only time I've seen a loaded aircraft "inside" was at alert facilities or in Tab-Vees (aka HAS). But again, if a maintenance requirement/concern came about then the weapons crew was called to de-arm the jet. I do recall an F-4D accidentally firing of its center-line gun pod during the mid 70s. The jet was on the flightline at the time, and it shot out its own nose landing gear. A real problem, especially on the older aircraft, was "stray voltage" which could energize some systems inadvertently.
No safety pin or pins on the F-16 or F-22 ACES seats (they are the same)...just a safety lever next to your left knee. Up/forward is Safe, down/aft is armed. Large rubberized wire handle between the knees pulled with 40-50 pounds force and you’re off!
