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To: Lazarus_Long who wrote (15889)	6/28/2002 7:41:29 PM
From: Dayuhan	Read Replies (2) of 21057

It seems that the "friendly" fire that killed four Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan was the result of "pilot error": story.news.yahoo.com Some parts I thought interesting: Asked whether the F-16 pilots had been told in advance that the Canadian troops were conducting live-fire training in the area where the mistaken bombing occurred, DeLong declined to comment. "All pilots are briefed to every mission," he said. In the Canadian report, Defence Minister John McCallum found "Canadian troops conducting the live-fire exercise followed all appropriate procedures and regulations. "It also finds that the two American pilots contravened established procedures and were the direct cause of the incident," McCallum said..... The two F-16s were returning from a mission over Afghanistan when they saw what at least one pilot believed to be enemy fire near the southern city of Kandahar. DeLong said the investigators determined that the lead pilot reported seeing what looked like "fireworks" on the ground and believed it was hostile surface-to-air fire. The pilot requested and received permission to determine the precise coordinates of the fire, DeLong said. The second F-16 pilot then requested permission to fire his 20 mm cannon at the target, but an airborne control plane in the vicinity instructed him to wait. That pilot then declared self-defense and released a 500-pound laser-guided bomb, which struck and killed four Canadian troops. DeLong said this amounted to "inappropriate use of lethal force." One of the F-16 pilots has been identified as Maj. Harry Schmidt of the Illinois Air National Guard's 170th Fighter Squadron. The other pilot's identity has not been revealed publicly. DeLong mentioned neither by name. Does anybody else think it odd that pilots from the Illinois Air National Guard were flying a combat mission over Afghanistan? Is there some shortage of active-duty air force pilots? One wonders if this has anything to do with the pilot's rather hasty assumption that a live-fire exercise on the ground was actually ground fire directed at him. One also wonders what the appropriate punishment would be for such an incident. Does anybody know what happened to the hot-rod pilots who clipped a cable in Italy and killed a bunch of skiers?

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