Iraqi air force accidentally kills 8 with errant bomb
An Iraqi plane had a hung-up bomb that failed to fall on it’s target, but, proving that Murphy is alive and well in Iraq, it fell off of it’s mount over a Baghdad neighborhood killing at least eight people, according to the Washington Post;
Iraq has just a handful of functioning fighter jets, which it acquired second-hand from Russia and Iran in its attempts to cobble together an air force in the wake of the Islamic State’s advances last year. Monday’s misfire is not the first mistake involving the aging Sukhoi fighter jets, which accidentally bombed government forces in the city of Tikrit earlier this year.
I’m pretty certain that the US wouldn’t have allowed the jet over a populated area with a bomb hanging off of it – if the pilot was even aware of the malfunction.
The Iraqi Air Force accidentally killed almost as many people as the US air strikes killed when they intentionally targeted ISIS targets in their capitol. If that’s not a metaphor for the US strategy against ISIS, I don’t know metaphors.
Thanks to Parachutecutie for the link.
Category: Terror War
Commander, “Hey Abdul can you drive car or truck?”
Abdul, “Yes I am an excellent driver sir!”
“Then Abdul, you will be a new Iraqi Air Force pilot! Show your driver’s license or if you don’t have one, a driving around runway test, for the flight instructor and he will assign you an aircraft to fly. Allahu Akbar Abdul!”
Must have been an ISIS pilot in cognito!
In the 80’s when I was a Navy-type at NAS Brunswick, ME our squadron lobbed a 500 lb bomb into a pizza restaurant parking lot on takeoff. At least it was a dummy bomb. Of course 500 lbs of steel and concrete falling on your head could do a bit of damage. Fortunately, we missed any target of value. One of my squadron-mates called the duty office and said “This is Mario’s. We surrender!” You can’t make this stuff up…
Master Arm switch in the Autofuck position, oops. Wheels up bombs away. That was Fat Boy’s Burgers, if I recall correctly. The story goes that the owner, after the attack on his parking lot, called the base Duty Office and surrendered.
I have often wondered, does the C130 have an autofuck position in regards to flares? I used to work in a shop right under the approach to the Sharana runway and we would occasionally get flared from about 150 ft. directly overhead. I always figured it was an overlooked checklist item “disarm flare system” but I was never able to research it successfully. I’m really surprised they never burned up an MRAP as we usually had a yard full of them.
he tried six times, reportedly, to release the bomb but was low on fuel and was told to return to the air strip. Nice. Of course it shook loose over a populated area! That’s the way these things work. No, my question is this: Is there anyone in the US military who order a pilot to do that? How about an, “Oh shit. Okay, go here, eject, and we’ll pick you up.” Hell, it’s not as if equipment retention is an Iraqi military priority.
“it’s not as if equipment retention is an Iraqi military priority.”
You just won 10,000 internets points.
Iraqi pilots in Russian aircraft, whatever could go wrong?
Actually, hung stores are not all that uncommon. There are procedures to try to rid your bird of stuck stores, but if unable you go to a field with an approach far away from populated areas, and don’t land with it armed, duh. I’ve had practice Mk-82’s stuck (ham-handed Ordies and sway braces, no doubt) and only came off at touchdown and then chased us down the runway a bit. My that was fun.
So if this idjit had his go boom after it departed, he’s very lucky not to have attempted landing with it. The people on the ground he vaporized, not so much.
Being a former “ham handed Ordie” I can troubleshoot this to A) bad LEMA or B) bad TACCO or C) a combination of A and B.
🙂
AO2(NAC) VP-69 CAC1
Knew that would get a comment! Always got along great with the Ordies on my crew, mostly because I’d stick around and help ’em off load all the empty Sonobuoy Launch Containers and expended CADS before heading to the (then) ASWOC for debrief.
Stars and Stripes | Jul 06, 2015 | by Ashley Rowland
SEOUL, South Korea — Damian Barbee was a model soldier, a highly decorated Ranger with nearly a dozen awards for valor and ribbons recognizing his overseas service.
His story was too good to be true.
In May, the former senior noncommissioned officer was found guilty of lying about items on his service record, including claims he earned a Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Master Parachutist Badge and a valor device on his Army Commendation Medal. Even his Ranger tab was fake.
In addition to being court-martialed for seven false claims of wearing decorations and badges, Barbee also lied to investigators, telling one official he had been awarded the Combat Action Badge in 2002, producing a falsified document as proof.
Barbee, formerly an E-8, was sentenced to hard labor without confinement for three months and given a reduction in rank to staff sergeant
E-6? Whoo…brutal.
For a few months in the spring of 2010 I was at Q West, formerly known as FOB Endurance. I got to see the Iraqi Air Force up close and personal because they never missed a meal in the KBR operated DFAC. Lots of brass, lots of bling…. and they had the most random and rag tag footwear you could imagine. I seriously think they had someone in the US buying shoes by the yard at thrift shops, boxing them up, and sending them over to them. It was sad really, to see an Iraqi AF Colonel wearing an old worn out pair of oversize weejuns and his cohorts wearing everything from shower shoes to worn out old tennis shoes. The only flying I ever saw them do was touch-and-goes at night in a Cessna 172. They sure liked that dessert carousel full of cakes and pies.