# Belgian Mechanic Accidentally Destroys F-16 with Cannon on Another F-16

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belgian-mechanic-accidentally-destroys-f-16-with-cannon-on-another-f-16/823006>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [October 16, 2018, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belgian-mechanic-accidentally-destroys-f-16-with-cannon-on-another-f-16/823006 "2018-10-16T01:05:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belgian-mechanic-accidentally-destroys-f-16-with-cannon-on-another-f-16/823006/1 "2018-10-16T01:05:34Z")

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[![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWqOROF-jkw)

Now if any of us here had designed the weapons system we would have built in safety features to prevent accidental firing and if we were repairing this cannon we would unload/disconnect the ammunition first.

But air forces on the other hand…?

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**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belgian-mechanic-accidentally-destroys-f-16-with-cannon-on-another-f-16/823006/2 "2018-10-16T01:29:13Z")

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> [@PastTense](#):
>
> [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWqOROF-jkw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWqOROF-jkw)
> 
> Now if any of us here had designed the weapons system we would have built in safety features to prevent accidental firing and if we were repairing this cannon we would unload/disconnect the ammunition first.
> 
> But air forces on the other hand…?

This came up on another board; they do have safety mechanisms. The mechanisms can be disabled for things like test firing the guns while on the ground, or testing the gun mechanism without actually firing, but somebody had to do so. Apparently they did it wrong.

> [@Apocal](#):
>
> Just had to check something, but basically the M61 has a feature for running checks (not tearing open the gun or fiddling around with specific circuits or controls) where you can disconnect the ammo if you need to do a pre-flight/pre-firing check of the actual gun’s function. The weapon isn’t strictly-speaking unloaded, but there isn’t any way for the bullets to actually enter the chamber and be fired. That’s how you do dailies (the daily once-over to make sure the gun is working) on CIWS, for example, which is the same gun as an F-16.

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**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belgian-mechanic-accidentally-destroys-f-16-with-cannon-on-another-f-16/823006/3 "2018-10-16T01:52:38Z")

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[Here](https://jalopnik.com/technician-accidentally-sets-off-an-f-16-cannon-blows-1829732241) is one of many articles on it without having to listen to a computer reading one of the articles on YouTube.

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**Author:** ![Sloe\_Moe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Sloe\_Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sloe_Moe)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belgian-mechanic-accidentally-destroys-f-16-with-cannon-on-another-f-16/823006/4 "2018-10-16T03:32:08Z")

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Well at least he has one kill to his credit, and one damaged.

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**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belgian-mechanic-accidentally-destroys-f-16-with-cannon-on-another-f-16/823006/5 "2018-10-16T12:42:59Z")

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> [@Sloe\_Moe](#):
>
> Well at least he has one kill to his credit, and one damaged.

From the video comments:

“Does he get to paint the kill on his toolbox?” 😃