Oops! F-16 Jet Fires On School

[FSPilot 0]

However during the Bosnian conflict and both Gulf wars British aircraft have failed to destroy a single civilian target that I or the media knows of. This is because we employ our aircraft and pilots in a higher risk environment as to avoid civvie casualties.

We have more pilots killed this way yet pilots are more expendable than civilians, pilots are operators of war machines whose job is to kill and get killed. Civilians are usually not responsible for the situation thrust upon them and should not be blamed by having bombs dropped on them.

I severely doubt the many of the Americans here share this attitude. They probably see their pilots as higher beings and would gladly ignore whether they have killed a few civilians or not.

I actually agree with you.  Not just with pilots but with any uniformed soldier vs. a civilian.  That uniformed soldier is prepared to die, the civilian isn't and they don't have to.  That's why we've got an army in the first place.

About the top F15 squadrons, the have some bloody excellent pilots among them. I know a F3 pilot who has been on red flag and he was impressed. We still usually beat you though  

We were just being nice.

My point was that if the USAF has the skill to fly at low level, surely it would have the skill to engage a ground target with a cannon, accurately and not a school.

Different skills are employed in flying low and shooting the cannon.  It's just that simple.  You can't judge how well a pilot is going to land by how well he takes off.

Low flying is being brought up as an issue because it requires skills , you can roam up in sky without having to fear that you'd clip your wings with something. And firing missiles isnt that skillful a task .... *radar buzz ..lock* , press button ... *boom* hurrah  

Ever heard of "task saturation"?  Didn't think so.

You can only do so many things in a cockpit before you start screwing up.  You make it sound like it's simple point and click.  It's just not.  Aside from flying the plane, you've got to do about 100 other things from following checklists to pulling the trigger.

Flying is relatively easy.  You've got your "go" stick, the control stick, and the rudder pedals.  Now you've got to fly the plane hundreds of miles away in your cramped and uncomfortable cockpit.  Scan for traffic, scan the engine instruments, crosscheck your navigation and IFR gauges, repeat.  Do this for about 2 to 3 hours.  Longer than that if you have to refuel.  Airspeed changed because you took on fuel? Better re-trim the plane. Now, while you're doing all that, follow an immense checklist involving every other switch in the airplane.  Identify the target as hostile, without any error mind you, then engage them.  Pull upwards of 9Gs without throwing up in your oxygen mask. Be sure to arrive on target within a few seconds of your time.  Now try it at night, in bad weather, while you're being shot at.  Not as easy as it sounds.

[Pathy 0]

The point is low flying adds more pressure to that load. If your used to operating under more pressure then your a better flyer.

[Uziyahu--IDF 0]

See this is the kind of stuff they needed to lampoon in Team America.

Heh, I thought they DID when they had Sarah firing the Air-to-Ground missile into the Louvre. Hehehehehe

[Uziyahu--IDF 0]

Little Egg Harbor Intermediate School also has an active WMD program it could arm the terrorists.

Ahhh, but it's not an INTENTIONAL WMD program. The little kiddies can't help it if they're carriers of strep throat, the flu, chicken pox, etc.

[cozza 24]

Seems the goverment wasnt giving into the teachers strike demands. j/k

My Primary school was right next to a quarry. Every day the school would come closer to its death.

[theavonlady 2]

My Primary school was right next to a quarry. Every day the school would come closer to its death.

A school with a potentially high turnover.............

At least in the fall semester.

[kavoven 4]

EDIT: maybe he is trigger happy and can't stand flying a few miles without shotting his main cannon like me

Rofl, good joke

I've the same problem with that.

[ralphwiggum 6]

seems like bad year for everyone.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/11/30/marines.accidents/index.html

Quote[/b] ]WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A sharp increase in deadly accidents involving U.S. Marine Corps aircraft has forced a close look at possible causes, officials said Tuesday.

From October 2003 through September 2004, the Marines sustained 18 major accidents, including the deaths of 15 aviators and the loss of 21 helicopters and fighter planes.

Most of the accidents came during training missions in the United States. The others occurred during combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Those numbers mark the worst year for Marine Corps aviation safety in more than 10 years, according to Marine records.

More Marine aviators were killed in accidents over the fiscal year that ended September 30 than were shot down by enemy fire, according to Marine officials.

The accidents cited are those termed "Class A" -- mishaps in which at least one person died or at least $1 million in damage occurred to an aircraft.

Marine officials set a mishap goal of 2.9 Class A accidents per 100,000 flying hours, but the rate for the 2004 fiscal year ended at 5.3 accidents per 100,000 flying hours.

By comparison, the Marines sustained 11 major accidents in the previous period, or 2.9 major accidents per 100,000 flying hours.

Accidents included the collision of two Marine F-18 Hornet fighters over the Atlantic Ocean; the crash of a UH-1 helicopter that killed four people during a night training mission; and the collision of two F-18 Hornets over Oregon that killed the two pilots.

Marine officials denied that the increased pace of combat operations contributed to the high accident rate, saying it was due instead to a leadership problem in the aviation ranks.

"We are currently taking significant losses from a self-induced internal threat: non-combat mishaps," the commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. Michael Hagee, wrote to his aviation commanders in July.

"Our peacetime training mistakes are significantly degrading our ability to prosecute the Global War on Terrorism," he said.

The officials said that recommendations to hold commanders and squadrons accountable are expected to be announced in January.

Some commanders have already been relieved. In one case, five commanders from a Marine squadron in Iraq were fired in October because of a high accident rate within that group.

One month into the new fiscal year, the Marines have sustained no major aviation accidents.

[FSPilot 0]

Accidents suck, but at least the Marines are doing something about them. It's good that they're examining themselves and trying to find the source of the problem.