(Air National Guard) Jet mistakenly drops dummy bomb in Okla.

[LeighAnn]

Source: Houston Chronicle

An Air National Guard jet mistakenly dropped a 22-pound non-explosive, practice bomb on an apartment complex, damaging the foundation but no one was injured, police said Friday.

The military pilot thought he had dropped the BDU-33 bomb, equipped with a dummy warhead, over a field in Kansas during a routine training mission out of Tulsa on Thursday.

A couple returned home to the Canyon Creek apartment complex and found the ordnance partly buried in the foundation and the power knocked out, Tulsa Police Officer Jason Willingham said.

The fighter aircraft was en route to Smokey Hill Gunnery Range in Salina, Kan., on a routine mission, according to a statement released Friday by the Oklahoma Air National Guard's 138th Fighter Wing.



Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/5620297.h...

[truthisfreedom]

1. Missed by a whole state?

I hope this was some sort of mechanical failure, and not utter incompetence.

[Bush_MUST_Go]

2. Did Dubya *finally* return to his ANG commitment? Sounds like it. Snafu. lol

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

7. He didn't miss by a whole state

the range was in KS, he dropped it on KS.

Hit the right state! Close enough! Good job!

[olddad56]

13. at least they named the bomb after Dubya.

[truthisfreedom]

22. The headline says Okla, and Tulsa police were involved. I don't get it?

Where does it say he dropped it in Kansas?

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

29. My bad reading...

I thought he dropped it over a field in KS. Now that I re-read, I was wrong.

I guess "precision bomber pilot" is another job I can scratch off my list of potential careers

[Cooley Hurd]

3. I hope the dummy didn't land on anyone!

That would "smart!"

[brooklynite]

4. See! If we bring back our National Guard contingents from Iraq...

...we'll be putting the entire nation at risk!

[Vinca]

5. Frightening when read next to the other story about the nuclear

warheads "mistakenly" loaded onto the bomber and transported across the country.

[Supersedeas]

6. exactly what i was thinking

[cosmicdot]

8. happened in Virginia Beach last November

Navy officials remain quiet on bomb details

November 1, 2007

Navy officials provided few details Wednesday about a practice bomb that fell from a fighter jet into a commercial area near Oceana Naval Air Station.

The dummy bomb crashed next to a building on busy London Bridge Road on Tuesday after falling from a single-seat F/A-18 Hornet.

The 10-pound, 18-inch bomb did little damage, landing near a wall outside a warehouse. But the incident was unsettling for some city officials. ~snip~

http://hamptonroads.com/node/377871

[BumRushDaShow]

9. Air Force was strafing a school in New Jersey a few years ago...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Air Force has concluded that pilot error and a poorly designed aircraft control caused an F-16 pilot to fire 27 rounds of 20 mm ammunition, some of which struck a New Jersey elementary school, according to a report obtained Friday by The Associated Press.

The report said the pilot did not intend to strafe the Little Egg Harbor Township Intermediate School, calling the firing of the aircraft's gun an "unfortunate and unintentional mistake."

The pilot, from 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. The pilot, 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.

<snip>

The November incident was the latest of several in recent years that have alarmed residents of the surrounding community, which has seen extensive population growth in recent years. 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.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-12-17-school_x...

[MadHound]

10. Nothing new, I damn near got hit by an Air Force "practice" run twenty five years ago

I used to live down by a small, rural Midwestern lake that had a quarter mile bridge over it. The Air Force boys from one state over did all kinds of practice drills in the area, and one day going into work I had just gotten on the bridge when "WOOMP, WOOMP! WOOMP, WOOMP!" Two jets had basically dive bombed the bridge with bags of flour on their practice run. After talking with neighbors in the area I found that this was common practice, and while that hadn't hit anybody yet, they'd come damn close and scared the shit out of many people.

[rocktivity]

11. Neither the bomb nor the bombers were smart!

rocknation

[Doctor_J]

12. Did it have Usama's autograph on it?

[southerncrone]

14. Maybe I'm naive, but when did the Nat. Guard start bombing missions?

I know they are mostly in Iraq fighting this bogus war, but when did they begin to run bombing missions?

Also, Tulsa is on the eastern most border of OK, and Kansas is completely across the state & borders OK on the west. That IS missing the target by at least a whole state!

Help us all!~

[RoyGBiv]

16. Ummm...no ...

Kansas borders Oklahoma on the north. The Kansas border is actually closer to Tulsa than the Arkansas border on the east.

Oklahoma's western border is mostly with the Texas panhandle. Oklahoma's panhandle touches New Mexico on its western edge.

And, bombing runs are typical training for the ANG.

[southerncrone]

18. You're right. Don't know where my brain was. Guess it's been a long week!

I'm normally very good w/geog. Just a brain fart! Thanks for correcting me.

This is still a troubling story.

[MaryCeleste]

21. ANG has done bombing mission if the plane supports it

They are supposed to be fully capable pilots trained in all aspects of the airplane.

[hack89]

26. Air National Guard is part of the regular Air Force

and have fought in every war since WWII.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_National_Guard

The local Rhode Island Air Guard unit deploys to Iraq on a regular basis.

[PSPS]

15. Unfortunately, they aren't using "dummy" bombs in Iraq.

I'm sure there are thousands of instances where Iraqi couples returned home to their apartment complex and found something quite different than just "the power knocked out."

[SunDrop23]

17. Sounds like one of Bush's Vietnam "missions" (n/t)

[MilesColtrane]

19. They should have aimed further south.

If they were able to take out all the dummies in Texas we'd be a blue state again!

[BlueCollar]

24. There are plenty of Dems in Texas...

[MilesColtrane]

27. I know. I live here.

But, the majority of voters here are Republicans ("dummies" in my post)

It's been that way for a long time. The last time we voted for a Democratic presidential candidate was 1968.

[superconnected]

20. sure.

[BB1]

23. Practice run?

I see I'm not the only one asking that...

[FalconsRule]

31. You don't think they need to train?

[Buns_of_Fire]

25. Obviously some new type of kinder, gentler ordinance

Once hit by one of our "Dummy Bombs," the affected populace has no further desire to fight, and instead focuses on "American Idol" reruns and Paris Hilton's new TV show.

Holy shit! Half our entire COUNTRY has been Dummy-Bombed!

[NaturalHigh]

28. This just boggles the mind.

[jdadd]

30. Maybe a practice run....

Think they dropped bombs over Iraq, and hit Iran.