Crews to detonate bomb at Hill Saturday

HILL AIR FORCE BASE — Bomb technicians at Hill Air Force Base will detonate a live bomb jettisoned from an F-16 that experienced an engine malfunction Thursday afternoon.

The detonation process is expected to begin at 8 a.m. Saturday, said Col. Patrick Higby, commander of the 75th Air Base Wing at Hill Air Force Base.

Residents around the northwestern area of the base may hear explosions and see smoke from the base.

The Roy gate of the base, as well as the Hill Aerospace Museum, will be closed Saturday while explosive ordnance disposal crews destroy the bomb.

Thursday, a pilot had an in-flight emergency shortly after taking off to the south, Higby said.

After flying over Layton and turning north over Clearfield, the pilot eyed an uninhabited area of the base's western side as a place to jettison his fuel tanks and live bombs.

The fuel tanks hit first, followed by one 500-pound Mk-82 bomb, which exploded unexpectedly, causing a power outage, Higby said. The other bomb hit and was buried about 17 feet underground.

An internal investigation into the engine malfunction, as well as why the one bomb exploded, will be conducted. And results of the investigation may go to the highest levels of the Air Force.

The base's explosives disposal team will use shape charges, which direct an explosive force at the ground, to detonate the bomb. Detonations are expected to happen at one-hour intervals if necessary, Higby said.

Higby said the detonation is fairly routine — one that EOD personnel train for at the Utah Test and Training Range.

Col. Scott Zobrist, commander of the 388th Fighter Wing, to which the pilot is assigned, said the pilot landed safely about one minute after dropping the tanks and bombs.

"He found the safest place to dispose of ordnance and to land a $25 million airplane safely," Zobrist said.

Zobrist applauded the pilot's effort to protect the community and the airplane.

He said he knew something was wrong when he saw the pilot immediately began turning north and dropping his fuel tanks, but he knew the pilot picked a safe spot to drop them.

"I was proud of what he did," Zobrist said.

He said his pilot's training played heavily into a safe outcome.

The jettisoned tanks and bombs are the latest accident related to the base.

In June, an F-16 pilot was killed when his jet crashed into Utah's West Desert, and last December, a pilot jettisoned his fuel tanks into the mud of the Great Salt Lake in western Davis County.

Zobrist said he stands behind his pilots' safety record.

"We're striving for zero," he said, adding that there is always risk involved in military operations and aggressive training.

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