Dummy bomb ban lifted for West Coast

Dummy bomb ban lifted for West Coast
By Gidget Fuentes - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Nov 9, 2007 12:47:57 EST

SAN DIEGO — The Navy is investigating two separate incidents in which 10-pound “dummy” practice bombs got hung up on the wings of two different F/A-18C Hornet fighter jets last week, a spokesman said Thursday.

In one case, an inert bomb, known as BDU-48, came off the rails from the fighter jet Oct. 30 and struck a wall near a warehouse in an industrial area just outside Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach, Va. No one was injured in that incident, which occurred as the jet returned to Oceana after a training flight in North Carolina.

The same day, a Hornet jet with Strike Fighter Squadron 125 from NAS Lemoore, Calif., experienced the same problem with a BDU-48 while on a training flight over Southern California, said Lt. Cmdr. Charles Brown, a Naval Air Forces spokesman at Naval Base Coronado, Calif.

The Hornet was operating from El Centro and conducting training in one of the military ranges at the time. The Navy has no reports of anyone hurt or structures damaged because of the incident, Brown said. The aircrew was cleared after officials examined the circumstances of that incident, he added.

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The incidents prompted Navy aviation officials last week to suspend the use of all BDU-48s until the cause of the premature drops was determined. “Realistic training is important, but of course for us, safety is a priority,” Brown said.

Officials on Nov. 5 lifted the ban for West Coast-based squadrons after verifying safety procedures and because jets carrying BDU-48s don’t fly over any developed areas or structures, Brown said. The prohibition by East Coast squadrons continued Thursday, he said, noting, “They’ve not completed that investigation yet.”


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/11/navy_practicebomb_probe_071108w/