Just press this button and a £35m jet goes up in flames…

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/f16-euro-fighter-destroyed-fire-explosion-belgium-friendly-fire-florennes-a8584451.html

If your name is Teresa May that sort of damage would be a good day

Whoops. Does the cannon on these things not have some kind of safety mechanism?!

Does the cannon on these things not have some kind of safety mechanism?!

It should do, someone’ll get shot for this

a maintenance worker accidentally pulled the trigger of a Vulcan cannon

Accidentally my arse! Who wouldn’t be tempted to give it a go?

At least they know the cannon works now.

Am i the only one with images of a “cleaner” sat in the cockpit making plane and machine gun noises whilst pretending to be in top gun then suddenly feeling very sheepish when he finds out it’s loaded?

A friend of mine said something similar happened at St. Athan about 20 years ago, single round shot from a supposedly unloaded aircraft or something. Interestingly they also found a set of steps in the tail section of another aircraft.

He works for Quantas now, so happy thoughts for anyone flying with them.

Uumm, an F-16 isn’t a Eurofighter..

Possibly not in the best taste after yesterday…

Oh shit, I’ll change it 😬

It was funny, just a timing thing…

Uumm, an F-16 isn’t a Eurofighter..

Correct…. But I think the article says it’s a Euro fighter jet, not a Eurofighter jet.

It’s quite surprising that the port side missiles have survived.  The angle doesnt allow for a good look at the starboard wing.

Seems that they haven’t learnt from past accidents.

My old boss (ex RAF) said when they were in training they were all made to watch a film about a Vietnam incident where the aircraft were all arranged in a ring to make them easier to guard until one caught fire/launched a round…….

Huge number of aircraft lost.

Seems that they haven’t learnt from past accidents.

Or maybe there was a fault. I would expect the gun to be isolated by a Safety Disarm Switch somewhere, and a Weight Off Wheels sensor. Being fired so (apparently) easily doesn’t seem right

Or maybe there was a fault. I would expect the gun to be isolated by a Safety Disarm Switch somewhere, and a Weight Off Wheels sensor.

Missing the point there. These are ridiculously complex machines, maintained by human beings. There’s always going to be a fault, or an error in the end. I suspect that the simple lesson alluded to would be to not routinely park your £35m highly focused weapon pointing at your other £35m toys.

Ming, google uss Forestal fire.

Rocket misfiring and setting off fueltanks on abother aircraft and fuel spilled all over.

Carrier was nearly lost and over 130 people killed.

Worse things have happened at sea…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Oriskany_fire

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967_USS_Forrestal_fire

Missing the point there. These are ridiculously complex machines, maintained by human beings. There’s always going to be a fault, or an error in the end. I suspect that the simple lesson alluded to would be to not routinely park your £35m highly focused weapon pointing at your other £35m toys.

Given the range of the weapon and the potential for a very busy airfield, thats not always going to be an option. So the aircraft should be designed to fail to safety to ensure the gun simply cant fire

Uumm, an F-16 isn’t a Eurofighter..

Correct…. But I think the article says it’s a Euro fighter jet, not a Eurofighter jet.

The article says it’s a 40 million euro fighter jet. i.e. a fighter jet that costs 40 million euros.

Worse things have happened at sea…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Oriskany_fire

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967_USS_Forrestal_fire

Interesting read!

Not a good week for fighter jets apparently:

https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a23792532/f-22s-damaged-destroyed-hurricane-michael/

And a good question at the end of it:

why was an Air Force base in the heart of America’s hurricane country so badly prepared for a big storm, especially protecting billions of dollars’ worth of fighter jets?