F-16 Fighter Fires At School In New Jersey

www.nbc10.com ^ | 3:56 pm EST November 4, 2004 | www.nbc10.com

[crushelits]

F-16 Fighter Fires At School In New Jersey

Incident Happened On Training Mission

LITTLE EGG HARBOR, N.J. -- A National Guard F-16 fighter jet on a nighttime training mission Wednesday fired 25 rounds of ammunition that tore through an intermediate school. No one was injured.

The military is investigating the incident that damaged Little Egg Harbor Intermediate School shortly after 11 p.m. Police were called to the area when a custodian heard what sounded like someone running across the roof of the school. The custodian was the only person in the school at the time. Police Chief Mark Siino on Thursday said police officers noticed punctures in the roof. Ceiling tiles had fallen into classrooms and there were scratch marks in the asphalt outside the building. The 2-inch long bullets are made of lead and do not explode, said Col. Brian Webster, commander of the 177th Fighter Wing of the New Jersey Air National Guard.
 It was unclear why the shots were fired, Webster said.

[VastRWCon]

LOL

[VastRWCon]

He could have been one of the 0.001 percent of the military that voted for Kerry.

[quietolong]

Cook off can not happen in a M-61
The M-61 is a rotary action mechanism. It does not rely on recoil or gas to load/eject the
rounds. The barrels are rotated by a hydraulic motor. The 6 breach block ride in tracks
and follow a cam track in the outer housing.
It’s all mechanical. As long as the barrel assy. is rotating. The breach blocks are working
in the load/ extract. mode. If there’s a round present or not.
The rounds feed from a large drum by a endless link belt. which bring unfired rounds to the gun and returns fired/unfired round to the drum.

So even if the gun did not have a clearing cycle. The spin down of the barrels would eject unfired rounds. And the feed belt stops feeding when the trigger is released.

So a lot needs to go wrong for a M-61 to go off by it’s self.

This guys going to get a bad mark.

Or
he’s a member of U.S.E. (United School Exterminators) It was an organization I dreamed up way back when I was in 2nd grade. And along with some of my classmates who hated school. And were always drawing pictures of our super jet fighters strafing & bombing schools.
The weenie school officials would have a heart attack if they saw them today!

I thought I disbanded that long ago. We turned into United Space Explores. Maybe he didn’t get the word ;-)

[mississippi red-neck]

So even if the gun did not have a clearing cycle. The spin down of the barrels would eject unfired rounds. And the feed belt stops feeding when the trigger is released.

Interesting.

So you are saying that the gun's chambers only have rounds in them while firing and start and end empty?

I was thinking of maybe overheated barrels from previous firing or maybe an electrical short but if the above is the case you're right it couldn't happen.

Also I would think their would be some kind of safety switch or procedure that would have to be employed or bypassed first to make the trigger hot.

[quietolong]

>>> So you are saying that the gun's chambers only have rounds in them while firing and start and end empty? <<<<

Yes
And even if some how a round remained in the “action” Only the barrel that’s in firing position is in battery. the others would be in some state of loading /extraction. And if it did cook off. It would be the only one because the barrel assy. is not rotating.
( And even if it was. the feed belt would need to be feeding it and the clearing solenoid would need to be off and the drum would need to be feeding the link belt.)

>>> Also I would think their would be some kind of safety switch or procedure that would have to be employed or bypassed first to make the trigger hot. <<<

There is.
first is Master Arm. And then guns need to be selected. (there’s also a weight on wheels sw.)

Also note because it’s the speed the barrels rotate determines the rate of fire. It can fire at any rate from 0 to. It flys a part. ( 7200 is what the specs. say is max)
And aircraft do have a selector for Hi/Low fire rate (6000/4000 for F-14) and carry 1400 rounds in the drum assy.

To bad I can’t link some of the text & pictures from my old AO 3&2 book!

[ATCNavyRetiree]

I can't find the rest of the cartoon. LOL. I'll look later. BUT what happens is Calvin fires missile after missile into the school wiping it out leaving just a hole in the ground so he doesn't have to go to school. then he comes back to reality, gets off the bus, sighs, and heads into yet another day of school. Calvin and Hobbes is fantastic. I loved it.

Yeah, I loved that strip too! Hey...maybe the pilot of this F-16 got his idea from that strip...:-)

[mississippi red-neck]

Thanks for the tech info.

Love getting on the DOD web site and studying the various weapon systems.

Was in AF in the sixties lot of changes since then.

Regards MRN

[Pukin Dog]

I gotta address this RIO thing once and for all.

When you fly a jet that does not use a computer to keep your ass from losing control, sometimes one must perform the art of flying with such skill and grace, that it requires an eyewitness to help describe it to those coming into the art or working on their craft.

Now, you know we have our egos, and sometimes we tend to be too busy, or too in rapture over our last outing to come back down to earth and share our wonder with our fellow man. Hence, you have the RIO.

The RIO's primary mission is to come back with a cool head, and describe the brilliance going on in the front seat. The absolute mastery of the air, the precision of the push to waypoints, the dead on stacking and sep in the pattern, the vapor explosion my snap into the break, the intuitive throttle corrections holding a perfect glide path and alpha down to the now expected OK3.

You see, by this time, the pilot is usually overcome with emotion, concerned that this kind of perfection is fleeting, and wont last until my next section, too lost in awe to describe the man-machine connection resulting in yet another LSO standing-ovation; it is quite a personal moment.

This is where the RIO steps forward while I regain my composure and shares with the world at large why his front seat is the baddest man alive.

I hope I wont have to explain this again.

[Pukin Dog]

I gotta feel sorry for ya when the high-light of your mission is the take-off or landing. . .

Oh, G2....

My boy, it is a truth I must confess to.

I can understand the thrill of being in an aircraft where you might TOT better if you got out and walked, and being serenaded by engines akin to the hoover vac my cleaning lady uses, it must be thrilling to yank over plan-form and present a big-ass "shoot me here" X in the sky. Yep that would keep me awake. But see, it is a rare thing when some nutjob from a wayward nation would get close enough to make my day interesting. If their RCR is screaming before their gear is up, they rarely want to come out and play with me. So I do my boring racetracks until my gas is gone, and go have a slider (or 4-5) while my RIO puts a nice shine on my helmet and shoes. Yes, it is a boring life, but somebody has to look so damn cool getting it done.

[Barnstormer]

And all this time I thought the RIO just held the bail money (in the appropriate currency of the particular liberty port) to get his pilot out of jail or pay for damages -- and/or get the pilot back on board the ship and into the bunk without incurring the notice or wrath of the Shore Patrol or various folks aboard ship who might take note of the returnee's condition and remember it come FitRep time!

You Navy guys are always thoroughly entertaining! They really need to put an Officer's Club aboard ship so you guys can sit around and kill some brain cells with good liquor instead of polishing this "Immortal Gods of Aviation" rap in a state of cold sobriety!

May you always catch the third wire!

[jriemer]

Similar story:

"FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, Pennsylvania (AP) -- Military officials are investigating why a jet fighter accidentally dropped a 25-pound practice bomb on a hiking trail a mile from its intended target in southeastern Pennsylvania."

Same article "In 1997, officials closed a tank range after rounds ricocheted over the top of a mountain and fell on state game lands. A fisherman reported a near miss from one errant round from a tank gun.
Errant bomb falls on hiking trail - 2004/10/24

[Miles the Slasher]

No child left behind! Schools performing below average will be dealt with severely! ;-)

[Baseballguy]

Come on He is a bushy that was pissed at his town for voting for the socialist anti-war liberal.

[Baseballguy]

How many fish did he pick up that day. I bet his buddy at the range had a nice fish fry!!!

[OregonRancher]

My wife and I were on 50 out of Fallon headed east when wing of Intruders decided to buzz us from behind. Four of those buggers, all in trail, at less than 100 feet, right over the top of our Bluebird. They all pulled up, reformed, and did it again. By this time we were pulled over and just cracking up and waving at them... they really put on a show. We were the only ones on the highway for miles in either direction.....

We did change our underwear.

[Gunrunner2]

Rather look good than be good. . .ha.

Any way you cut it, flying ANY fighter anywhere beats doing anything else.

[Doogle]

...actually....it was suppose to be the 4th ward, voting district#7 of Trenton, NJ

Bush 786 kerry 15,236



Doogle

[Pukin Dog]

And to think, we don't even need those girly little scarves you folks think are so slick.

[Gunrunner2]

Nope. . .being under way, making way, trapped on a ship for months at a time with 5,000 hot, sweaty men, yup. . .you guys don't need no spiffy scarves to look good to EACH OTHER.

Ha.