Photo : Scramble.nl

This sounds like something straight out of a goofy military comedy, but I assure you this is real: a Belgian technician accidentally set of the cannon of a military plane during maintenance, which shot another plane. That plane blew up, damaging the initial plane in the process. Talk about a bad day.


As reported by Aviation24.be, the event took place at the Florennes Air Base on October 11. A bunch of planes were being serviced, since some were heading off for a training mission. A technician in one of the F-16s accidentally hit that metaphorical big red button and activated its six-barreled Vulcan M16A-1 cannon.

Presumably before he even had time to utter “oh, shit”, another F-16AM had burst into flames. This one had recently been fully fueled for a training run, and yes, the bullets hit the gas tank. Oops!


Photo : Scramble.nl

And because the world is cruel, the blast from the exploding F-16AM also impacted the plane that delivered the shots.

Unfortunately, two technicians were also injured during the blast. The full extent of their injuries isn’t known, but the Belgian Aviation Safety Directorate has opened an investigation to see what, exactly, they can do to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again, possibly with even worse results.