with a howitzer round right into the back yard! No injuries reported.
Who knew they were armed? This article has details. Apparently they were shooting for the mountain and missed.
Damn!
“Moooooooooom, we really want to swim, why can’t we get a pool?”
“Sorry kids, it’s just too much work digging the hole.”
The easiest way to miss a target by 9000 yards like that is to substantially bend the live weapon before you fire it. If you were to, say, ram the warhead from the side with a speeding pick-up truck and then load it into the howitzer and fire it, you could probably repeat the degree to which they missed the target.
It’s quite simple, really.
Let me guess what the latest job Paris Hilton is filming for that “reality” series of hers …
I’ve heard the phrase “couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn” before. But a mountain? The Empire’s Stormtroopers would be humbled.
See if they’re going to ever abuse the EZ-Pass lane again.
Could have been worse. Could have hit their septic tank.
The gaming geek in me says they probably tried to hit the mountain using direct fire, and the howitzer’s better-designed for indirect fire.
Otherwise, they’re trying to make us believe that the thing has a 9,000 yard (that’s five miles!) margin for error, and they’ve only missed this badly once in over 10,000 shots. You’ll notice they don’t say they’ve never missed before, or by this much; they’ve just never had anybody notice that they’ve missed this bad…
I wonder what would have happened if they had only missed by a little bit, and caused an avalanche in the wrong direction, like down the other side of the mountain onto that same street. How do you explain accidentaly burying a neighborhood? “Oops, I guess I was off by a mile or so.” I bet that gun is a lot of fun to shoot though. Six foot wide crater after over shooting the target? I would like to see the crater on a direct hit.
This thing landed about a half mile from my dad’s house. He told me they heard a loud boom and felt the ground shake but didn’t know what it was at the time.
According to UDOT (Utah Dept. of Transportation) the shell was filled with too much powder and that is why it overshot the target. I’m not sure if I’m buying that or not.
If you’re not familiar with the local geography it’s hard to picture what happened, but apparently the shell went completely over the top of the mountain and landed on the other side.
Here is a local newspaper article with more details and photos.
“It’s not our fault! It’s not our fault! The mountain…ducked.”
This is the sort of incident that is preceded by this conversation:
“Hey Jim, watch this!”
“10 bucks says you won’t do it.”
They said that the shells come pre-packaged with seven bags aof powder, but they normally use only five. This one was believed to have seven bags in it for undetermined reasons. UDOT immediately spoke up and accepted full responsibility and says that it will pay for repairs. Many companies and agencies could learn a lot from how they are handling this mistake. The interviews with people close to the explosion show that they aren’t enraged at UDOT. That is amazing.
Note to self: next time I’m having a shitty day, repeat this mantra: “At least the Department of Transportation has not bombed my home.”
Hell, next time I’m having a bad day at work: “At least I’m not the poor DOT employee who accidentally bombed a residential neighborhood.”
WTF is the transportation department doing with a howitzer, anyway?
Causing avalanches.
Well, that was kinda cool…
I like the idea that they have a howitzer …
(… Just wish they’d use it for more constructive purposes … like during rushhour …)
Thank You, lee for the tears … haven’t laughed so hard in a looonnnnngggg time …