Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Norfolk Virginian-Pilot
May 16, 2008 By Matthew Jones, The Virginian-Pilot
It's not immediately clear what caused an Oceana-based jet to drop a bomb about one mile east of its target at a Florida bombing range Tuesday, starting a forest fire, a Navy spokesman said Thursday.
The bomb fell just as the squadron was wrapping up a training exercise, said Lt. Cmdr. Dave Nunnally of Naval Air Force Atlantic. The incident could have been caused by a number of things and is under investigation, he added.
Nunnally said he doesn't know how long the investigation will take. The main thing, he said, is "to figure out the cause so we can prevent it from happening again."
As for the pilot who dropped the bomb, Nunnally said his or her status will be determined once the investigation is complete.
U.S. Forest Service firefighters spent Thursday extinguishing the last of the hot spots in the 250-acre burn outside the Pinecastle target range, about 60 miles northwest of Orlando.
No one was killed or injured during the bombing, which happened during a training mission in a swampy, uninhabited area at about 1:45 p.m. Tuesday. An F/A-18 Super Hornet released a 500-pound laser-guided bomb that landed about one mile east of Pinecastle in the Ocala National Forest, said Miriam Gallet, spokeswoman for Jacksonville Naval Air Station.
The plane is part of VFA-213, the "Fighting Blacklions." The squadron is part of Carrier Air Wing 8, which is currently embarked aboard the carrier Theodore Roosevelt. On Thursday, the jets were on their way back to Norfolk.
Gallet said pilots drop an average of 2,062 inert bombs and 400 live bombs a year at the Florida range. While inert bombs have landed outside the range before, she said this was the first time a live bomb had done so since it opened in 1951.
May 16, 2008 By Matthew Jones, The Virginian-Pilot
It's not immediately clear what caused an Oceana-based jet to drop a bomb about one mile east of its target at a Florida bombing range Tuesday, starting a forest fire, a Navy spokesman said Thursday.
The bomb fell just as the squadron was wrapping up a training exercise, said Lt. Cmdr. Dave Nunnally of Naval Air Force Atlantic. The incident could have been caused by a number of things and is under investigation, he added.
Nunnally said he doesn't know how long the investigation will take. The main thing, he said, is "to figure out the cause so we can prevent it from happening again."
As for the pilot who dropped the bomb, Nunnally said his or her status will be determined once the investigation is complete.
U.S. Forest Service firefighters spent Thursday extinguishing the last of the hot spots in the 250-acre burn outside the Pinecastle target range, about 60 miles northwest of Orlando.
No one was killed or injured during the bombing, which happened during a training mission in a swampy, uninhabited area at about 1:45 p.m. Tuesday. An F/A-18 Super Hornet released a 500-pound laser-guided bomb that landed about one mile east of Pinecastle in the Ocala National Forest, said Miriam Gallet, spokeswoman for Jacksonville Naval Air Station.
The plane is part of VFA-213, the "Fighting Blacklions." The squadron is part of Carrier Air Wing 8, which is currently embarked aboard the carrier Theodore Roosevelt. On Thursday, the jets were on their way back to Norfolk.
Gallet said pilots drop an average of 2,062 inert bombs and 400 live bombs a year at the Florida range. While inert bombs have landed outside the range before, she said this was the first time a live bomb had done so since it opened in 1951.