Squirt

Saw this story in AF times and being a pilot I have to wonder *** the soldiers were doing in the SUV 1.5 miles from a live fire strafing target at night? Sounds like it shouldn't be pilot error. More like Darwinism...

Anyone care to shed some light?

Pilot error led to strafing of SUV



By Mike Stark - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jun 25, 2008 15:50:44 EDT
HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah — An F-16 pilot misidentified a rented sport utility vehicle when he blasted it with a 20mm cannon during a late-night training exercise in April, according to an Air Force investigation.
The military said the pilot momentarily lost visual contact with a target while using night-vision goggles at the Utah Test and Training Range.
Moments later, he misidentified the parked SUV and hit it with rounds from the plane’s cannon. It was about 1.5 miles away from the target, which was a mock armored personnel carrier.
Two soldiers from Fort Lewis, Wash., inside the SUV received minor injuries as they scrambled to get out and call for the mission to be aborted.
Lt. Beth Woodward, a spokeswoman for the 388th Fighter Wing at Utah’s Hill Air Force Base, said the SUV was parked in an appropriate observation spot during the training exercise. The area was closed to the public.
The pilot’s name was not released Wednesday.
Woodward said the pilot is a major in the Air Force with more than 800 flying hours in F-16s.
Prior to the April 8 incident, the pilot had been certified to lead four-plane formations. Woodward said that certification has been revoked while the he undergoes additional training.
The incident prompted a review of training procedures, including air-to-ground coordination during training missions at night. Woodward said changes were made. She said she couldn’t provide details out of security concerns.
“We are fully committed to keeping the range a safe place to practice the skill sets needed to bring airpower to the enemy,” Col. Scott Dennis, 388th Fighter Wing commander, said in a statement.

AK Hawg

Well, if they're part of the friendly ground party, then 1.5 NM is more than far enough away. Either way it's always the pilot's responsibility to properly ID the target. Now as much as I'd like to flip my Viper friends some crap (i.e. how exactly did two guys survive their truck being hit by your bullets) but I'll refrain from that since stuff like this scares the crap out of me as a CAS pilot.
Here's the more general answer: This is like any aviation mishap - there's a chain of events that has to continue for the mishap to occur - remove any one of those links and everything is fine. Also, how do you know you've lost SA? You'll know just as soon as you get it back ...

hoya99

maybe its the same dude that strafed the school in NJ a few years back and almost hit the janitor

Hacker15e

They were not part of the friendly ground party.

If you haven't had to ID a target at night through NVGs on a strafe pass diving at the dirt at 450 knots with about 5 seconds of track time, then you don't know just how possible this type of thing is...

I'm with AK Hawg...there but for the Grace of God go I on this sort of thing.

__________________
Do ordinary things extraordinarily well

kronan

Link to a picture of the SUV
Pilot error led to strafing of SUV - Air Force News, news from Iraq - Air Force Times

my WAG is came about a foot from killing one or both of the guys

OttoA10

I agree with AK Hawg. As a former Hog driver, this sort of situation always concerned me at night. My question is though, if they weren't part of the friendly ground party how did they call for the mission to be aborted? Thankfully, they are still around to tell about it.

bifff15

Just what were these two "soldiers" doing in a full sized SUV at night all by themselves with no one else around? So they thought... Maybe this was some "Viperinteruptus"... Definitly wasn't a dry pass... STS...

rickair7777

Panel Check?

Clue32

SUV / APC
Blackhawk / Hind

I'm just happy these two survived. This is an unfortunate incident that hopefully will lead to some better TTP's and prevent this from happening again, whether the pilot was at fault or the soldiers.

I would like to know what they were doing way out there.

FDXLAG

Is a red suburban the modern equivalent of the Cold War Urban Assault Vehicle? If so Sgt Hulka is gonna be ****ed.