Electrical malfunction may have caused F-4EJ gun to fire rounds into parking lot
By Wayne Specht, Misawa
bureau chief
Stray voltage build-up might have caused the machine gun of a
Japanese F-4EJ fighter on Monday to inadvertently pepper a parking lot in Hokkaido with
20mm practice rounds.
Officials at the Air Staff Office in Tokyo raised that possibility on
Tuesday as investigators studied the Phantom jet now parked in a hangar at Chitose Air
Base in Hokkaido. No injuries were reported in the shooting.
The American-made Phantom was conducting air-to-ground training at
the Shimamatsu Range, a few miles from a drug addiction rehabilitation center where
several of the 188 errant rounds hit a bus and car, and burrowed into the asphalt parking
lot.
An investigation committee of the Air Staff Office inspected the
electrical systems aboard the fighter, which is assigned to the ASDF’s 83rd Air Wing
from Naha Air Base, Okinawa.
A Defense Agency spokesman said Wednesday this was the first time
such an incident was reported involving the F-4EJ Phantom.
Investigators also interviewed the pilot and the crew member who was
in charge of preparing firearms aboard the fighter jet prior to Monday’s flight.
The pilot said the firing began suddenly while the trigger’s
safety catch was fixed in place, leading investigators to suspect the source of the
accident was in the electrical control system.
All ASDF training jets equipped with rocket arms and ammunition were
grounded as a safety precaution following the accident.
Naoko Sekioka contributed to this report.
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