Topic: F-16 Fighter Fires At School In New Jersey

[Capt. Mike]

Hey Nick, you could round up all the punks in Newark, arm them, and tell them to invade Philly, then wait for the ghost of Mayor Rizzo to rise 

Nick, most folks don't know that most of NJ is very beautiful..I've spent a lot of time in the country..all they see are the squalid city neighborhoods...

Mike

[NJAntman]

... round up all the punks in Newark, arm them,..

Redundant, no ?

[Capt. Mike]

... round up all the punks in Newark, arm them,..

Redundant, no ?

O.K.  I was cooking dinner, and the hunger dulled me for a second..just think if we could use a giant jigsaw, cut around the NY/Newark area, and let it float out to sea, get caught up in the currents, and float to Europe...interesting conjecture..how much would we save by not supporting some of them..and how much would France suffer if it ran into Calais (we'd anchor Liberty Island down, since it has no native population)

Mike..it's late..and I've been watching the Clapton guitar fesival on Iowa public TV

[The Postman]

N.J. range to reopen after school strafed
12/15/2004, 12:17 a.m. ET
The Associated Press   

LITTLE EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) ? Pilots will resume training Thursday at a military range that has been shut down since an F-16 fighter accidentally fired at an elementary school last month, officials said
Though training will resume at the Warren Grove Gunnery Range, no weapons will be fired for now, and changes have been made to increase safety, Col. Brian Webster said.

"We've implemented a number of new operational procedures and guidelines that allow us to safely resume temporary, limited, non-ordnance training," Webster said in a statement. He commands the 177th Fighter Wing of the New Jersey Air National Guard, which supervises the range.

Military officials would not specify exactly what changes are being made.

The range has been closed since Nov. 3, when the F-16 approaching the range accidentally fired 27 rounds of 20mm ammunition from a cannon mounted in the left wing. Some of the spent rounds passed through the roof of the Little Egg Harbor Intermediate School. The incident happened at about 9 p.m., while only custodians were inside the building, and no one was injured.

The results of a recently completed Air Force Accident Investigation Board inquiry are still under review, according to Webster's statement.

Township Committeeman Brian Rumpf said the investigation would be made public by the end of the month and that a public meeting would be held to discuss the investigation.

The 9,400-acre range, located in the southern New Jersey Pine Barrens about 30 miles north of Atlantic City, has been in operation since 1942.

The November incident was the latest of several in recent years that have alarmed residents. Fires caused by errant bombs burned 11,000 acres of nearby woodlands in 1999 and 1,500 acres in 2001. An F-16 training at the range crashed near the Garden State Parkway in June 2002. The pilot ejected and no one was hurt.

http://www.masslive.com/newsflash/national/index.ssf?/base/national-35/1103088844125710.xml&storylist=national

[Dracho]

I knew NJ was "The Garden State", but I thought it was a Rock Garden.   

I used to work for a company that sent me to Boundbrook, Edison, and Carteret on a regular basis.

[Fedman NCC-3758]

I knew NJ was "The Garden State", but I thought it was a Rock Garden.   

I used to work for a company that sent me to Boundbrook, Edison, and Carteret on a regular basis.

Then you need to get down to Ocean and Burlington County my friend.

Heh!  I go to Colliers Mills just to sit by the lake and listen to the target practice they usually have on Saturdays.  I can't see it, but whatever they are using it's BIG and FAST. 

[NJAntman]

If you want to see it just look for Range Road off the west side of County 539 about halfway between Rt 72 and the Parkway. Pre 9/11 access was allowed for civilians up to the guard shack. Could just sit there and watch them rip the hell out of the pygmy pines.

[KBF-Angel Slayer]

Getting to fly but not fire...can you picture a pilot in a multimillion dollar fighter jet flying by at mach 2 making machine gun noises with his mouth as he 'strafes' a target?  That is silly.

[Fedman NCC-3758]

If you want to see it just look for Range Road off the west side of County 539 about halfway between Rt 72 and the Parkway. Pre 9/11 access was allowed for civilians up to the guard shack. Could just sit there and watch them rip the hell out of the pygmy pines.

OK!  Will Do.

Thanks for the tip NJ. 

[kmelew]

If you want to see it just look for Range Road off the west side of County 539 about halfway between Rt 72 and the Parkway. Pre 9/11 access was allowed for civilians up to the guard shack. Could just sit there and watch them rip the hell out of the pygmy pines.

Doesn't County 539 go through Ft. Dix?  That's one road I don't want to be stranded on in the middle of the night! 

[Fedman NCC-3758]

Doesn't County 539 go through Ft. Dix?  That's one road I don't want to be stranded on in the middle of the night! 

Why not?

I'm sure it gets patrolled quite regularly. 

It's not like it's Area 51. 

[NJAntman]

If you want to see it just look for Range Road off the west side of County 539 about halfway between Rt 72 and the Parkway. Pre 9/11 access was allowed for civilians up to the guard shack. Could just sit there and watch them rip the hell out of the pygmy pines.

Doesn't County 539 go through Ft. Dix?  That's one road I don't want to be stranded on in the middle of the night! 

Once upon a time (before the invasion of Northerners looking for mansion in the sticks) that was a creepy road at nite. Now, with all the development, you can make it from one WAWA to the next before the coffee gets cold.

But if you want creepy there is an abandoned BOMARC site complete with old concrete hangers and plutonium contamination along 539. Just look for the only unmarked paved road off the east side of 539, north of Rt 70 about 10 miles. And the stretch of 539 between 70 and the Parkway is practically undeveloped. Pygmy pines get really freaky at nite when the headlights hit them.
 

[Capt. Mike]

Nick, we used to go drinking there when I was at school at Ft Monmouth...gets the girls cuddling 

Mike

[The Postman]

Pilot error blamed in N.J. school shooting
12/17/2004, 10:32 a.m. ET
By DONNA DE LA CRUZ
The Associated Press   

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Air Force has concluded that pilot error and a poorly designed aircraft control caused an F-16 pilot to fire rounds into a New Jersey elementary school, according to a report obtained Friday by The Associated Press.

The pilot never intended to strafe the Little Egg Harbor Township Intermediate School, according to the report, which called the firing of the aircraft's gun an "unfortunate and unintentional mistake."

The pilot, Maj. Roberto Balzano of the 113th Wing of the District of Columbia National Guard, based at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, was wearing night-vision goggles on the training mission Nov. 3 when the shooting occurred.

Balzano, referred to in the report as the "mishap pilot," or MP, was verifying his aircraft position in relation to his intended target on the Warren Grove Gunnery Range in southern New Jersey. No one was injured.

"This was accomplished by pulling the trigger, commanding the aircraft's targeting pod to emit a laser marker for orientation," the report said. "Unfortunately, the MP forgot that his aircraft's air-to-ground gun mode was selected and armed ready to fire. The MP immediately realized his error when the aircraft gun's discharged."

Balzano has more than 2,000 hours of experience flying planes, 975 hours of which were in the F-16s.


http://www.masslive.com/newsflash/national/index.ssf?/base/national-35/110329644795410.xml&storylist=national

[Dracho]

This is one of those "Just be grateful nobody was hurt" episodes.  I can imagine being in that pilot's place, and the knot that would be in my stomach as those rounds left the plane and I had to wonder for possibly days if I'd accidently killed someone....

[NJAntman]

Nick, we used to go drinking there when I was at school at Ft Monmouth...gets the girls cuddling 

Mike

The BOMARC site? Did it leave them with an afterglow?

[Capt. Mike]

Some of those dirt roads near Wrightstown?  That's where we'd go..quiet and lonely

Mike

[Just plain old Punisher]

I would hope he realises his error when the bloody gun goes off and doesn't let off a couple 500 pound bombs for effect.

[The Postman]

Updated with more info

Air Force blames pilot in school strafing
12/17/2004, 9:55 p.m. ET
By WAYNE PARRY
The Associated Press   

LITTLE EGG HARBOR, N.J. (AP) ? An Air National Guard pilot who accidentally fired on a New Jersey school during a nighttime training exercise was to blame for the incident, but poorly designed controls in the F-16 also played a role, the Air Force concluded Friday.

The report, obtained by The Associated Press, also disclosed there have been three other incidents this year in which an F-16 pilot unintentionally fired during nighttime strafing missions. No one was hurt in any of the incidents.

The report called the Nov. 3 incident in New Jersey an "unfortunate and unintentional mistake." It said the pilot never intended to strafe the Little Egg Harbor Township Intermediate School, and it suggested computer software changes to the aircraft control systems to prevent another incident.

"The last thing he wanted to do, obviously, is have the gun fire and have rounds land off the range," Col. Brian Webster, commander of the 177th Fighter Wing of the New Jersey Air National Guard. "He simply got confused. He had the gun up and armed."

He said the software upgrade being installed on 600 older F-16s nationwide will make it impossible to use the same trigger mechanism to activate the aircraft's laser target marker and fire its 20mm cannon.

The Air Force board that investigated the New Jersey accident recommended the change.

"In my opinion, using the same trigger for both laser marking and firing the aircraft's gun significantly increases the risk of human error and an unintentional gun discharge," the board's head, Col. Kevin W. Bradley, said in the report.

The other accidental firing incidents occurred at the Adirondack firing range in upstate New York and at two ranges in Western states, Webster said; none of them involved projectiles landing outside the range.

The pilot in the New Jersey incident was identified as Maj. Roberto Balzano of the 113th Wing of the District of Columbia National Guard, based at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. The report said his commander will determine if any punitive or administrative action should be taken, and whether any retraining is necessary.

Balzano has more than 2,000 hours of experience flying planes, 975 hours of which were in the F-16s.

Balzano, referred to in the report as the "mishap pilot" or MP, was verifying his aircraft position in relation to his intended ground targets on the Warren Grove range, about 30 miles north of Atlantic City. The school is about four miles from the range.

"Unfortunately, the MP forgot that his aircraft's air-to-ground gun mode was selected and armed ready to fire. The MP immediately realized his error when the aircraft gun's discharged," the report said.

The accident happened as Balzano was flying at approximately 7,000 feet. Twenty-seven rounds of inert 20mm ammunition were discharged. Eight of the 2-inch lead rounds punched through the school's roof, knocking down ceiling tiles. At least one round struck a child's desk, and others scuffed the asphalt in the parking lot.

Balzano immediately told the control tower something had gone wrong, scrapped his mission and returned to Andrews.

http://www.masslive.com/newsflash/washington/index.ssf?/base/politics-5/1103339047297660.xml&storylist=washington