BDU-33s being loaded on an F-16. (not the aircraft involved in this story.)
Posted on 12/02/2006 7:11:04 PM PST by Jet Jaguar
OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea — Air Force safety experts were seeking answers Friday on why a U.S. fighter plane released a dummy bomb Wednesday that caused no injuries but ripped a jagged path through a South Korean wire factory.
The nonexplosive training bomb sent startled workers scurrying at the two-story 3A Company Ltd. factory after it crashed through the roof and burrowed its way into a ground-floor office. The mishap occurred around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday in Eumseong, northern Chungcheong province.
The bomb dropped from an A-10 attack plane assigned to the 25th Fighter Squadron, part of the 51st Fighter Wing at Osan Air Base.
The plane was returning from a training mission at Pilsung Range, Air Force Maj. Michael Shavers, the wing’s chief spokesman, said Friday. The range is 90 miles east of Osan and about 60 miles from the factory.
The 24-pound BDU-33 training bomb is of a type used to mark ground targets during bomb-run training, the wing said. A pilot aims the bomb at the target area and, on impact, it emits a puff of whitish smoke that helps other pilots see where to aim their bombs.
Wing officials said in a written statement Friday morning that “an apparent systems problem” caused the bomb’s release. Shavers said no further details on a possible cause would be available Friday.
The wing’s safety office was investigating the mishap, Shavers said.
“Part of the investigation has to do with finding which aircraft the munition might have come off of,” Shavers said. He added that about 20 U.S. aircraft practice over the range on training days, and many are equipped with the dummy bombs.
“We’re not yet at a point where we can say this individual pilot flying this particular aircraft was the one that the munition fell off of,” he said.
On Thursday, officials called a one-day halt to flights of the squadron’s A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft to allow time for a close review of bomb-release procedures and related safety matters, Shavers said. The twin-engine jets are used mainly for close support of ground troops.
Also Thursday, Col. Terry Featherston, commander of the wing’s 51st Operations Group, went to the factory and met its owner and employees to “express his sincere apologies,” the wing statement said.
Featherston gave the factory owner a “solatium payment” of 500,000 won — about $535 — which Shavers said is “simply a gift to the individual who is affected by this incident as a gesture of goodwill from the wing.”
The gift is the maximum allowable in property damage incidents, under the U.S.-South Korea status of forces agreement.
The factory owner, meanwhile, was seeking damage estimates before filing for compensation, Shavers said.
She will get estimates on repairs and file them with the South Korean government, which in turn will go to U.S. Forces Korea “to recoup the money,” he said.
BDU-33s being loaded on an F-16. (not the aircraft involved in this story.)
ping.
I was curious that a pilot would not notice that a bomb has fallen off of his plane then I noticed from your picture how small the bomb is.
Now I am curious that the bomb did the damage described.
They are 24 lbs. They have an explosive charge. (akin to a large shotgun shell)
But, dropped from an aircraft, it could do some damage.
During a training exercise in NJ a jet strafed a grammar school. Thankfully this was in the night. However, the janitor was rather shocked to hear what sounded like pop corn hitting the roof.
I am familiar with that incident.
Ironically, the pilot had attended that very school according to the news reports.
Maybe now his 6th grade teacher, Mrs Fartsworth, will reconsider his request for reconsdieration of that "C Minus" in Social Studies?
oops...my cousin is an AF jet mechanic in South Korea. ;)
Why irionically? He must have had a bunch of bad memories.
:0)
Nodding. I have heard similar stories of accidental drops by pilots at Luke.
My father in law dropped his bombs on the airstrip just sitting there one time. It was one of those early trainer jets in the 1960's (T-33?). It was a mechanical failure, a wire shorted out. He was in trouble until he found the wire that shorted out and showed it to his superior.
It came up talking about him breaking the circuit breaker for the ignition switch for getting off the Moon when suiting up.
Your father-in-law, huh? Did he ever swap stories with John McCain?
no
The nonexplosive training bomb sent startled workers scurrying...
That's an understatment!
"ggssssshh" say again rr "GSSSDFHJs" your breaking up "sssshhhhhh"
Sorry I lost my decoder ring---will look maybe!!!
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