Quirk in electrical system blamed
for firing of F-4 gun into parking lot
By Wayne Specht, Misawa
bureau chief
A never-before-seen electrical system quirk apparently caused a Japanese fighter
jet’s gun to fire on a rehabilitation home parking lot Monday, according to an Air
Self-Defense interim report.
"The cause of the accident was trouble in an electrical system that sent signals
to activate the cannon when the pilot did nothing more than move the control stick,"
Wednesday’s report stated.
The F-4EJ Phantom fighter mistakenly fired 188 rounds over the towns of Eniwa and
Kitahiroshima in western Hokkaido while conducting air-to-ground training with three other
aircraft.
"Though we have used F-4-type fighter jets for about 30 years, we have not heard
of such trouble anywhere else in the world," a committee member told Japanese
newspapers.
On Wednesday, about 50 people demonstrated against the accidential firing in Okinawa
Prefecture, where the fighter is based, demanding closure of the facilities.
Japan’s Defense Agency is now conducting an inspection to find out if the problem
was peculiar to the fighter jet in question, or if the problem can cause a misfiring in
planes with the same or similar mechanism as the F-4EJ.
All fighter jets flown by Japan with machine guns, including the F-15, F-1, F-2 and the
T-2 training aircraft, are being inspected for similar malfunctions. None have been found
to date. As aircraft are cleared, they will return to service, a spokesman said Thursday.
The American-designed Phantom, built by Mitsubishi Heavy Indistries in Japan, was one
of four aircraft conducting air-to-ground training at the Shimamatsu Range located a few
miles from a drug addiction rehabilitation center.
Several of the 188 errant rounds hit a bus and car, and burrowed into the asphalt
parking lot on Monday. No injuries were reported.
Officials said they would continue to inspect the aircraft to determine the source of
the abnormal electrical signals.
There is a possibility of faults in either maintenance or pre-flight checkup
procedures, they added.
The pilot told investigators he never pressed the trigger on the control stick, and a
pin that keeps the trigger locked in place was never removed.
A television camera mounted inside the cockpit used to record the pilot’s actions
and cockpit control settings for later use in debriefings confirmed the pilot’s
account.
Because the pilot testified that the firing started suddenly despite the presence of
the safety pin in the trigger, the committee focused on the electrical systems that
operate the gun.
Naoko Sekioka contributed to this report.
Back to June stories
Page Two news roundup
Stories from May, 2001
Stories from April, 2001
Stories from March, 2001
Stories from February,2001
Stories from January, 2001
Stories from December, 2000
Stories from November, 2000
Stories from October, 2000
Stories from August and September, 2000
Stories from June and July, 2000
Home |
