Accidental weapon discharge whilst on the ground.

[MATELO]

http://www.airlive.net/alert-gunshot-fired-on-board-vueling-aircraft-flight-vy3420-to-madrid/

[DaveReidUK]

Happened at Ibiza, in case anyone else was wondering. Police firearm supposedly being secured before departure.

[scifi]

Can you believe this happened?


1. Gun Loaded.
2. Safety Catch off.
3. Firing mechanism cocked.
4. Bounced around in Metal Box.
5. Inside an aircraft cockpit.


Now what could possibly go wrong?

[garpal gumnut]

If the weapon belonged to an Australian Defence Force person, when I served overseas, it would be an automatic six months at the Governors pleasure in DFCE Holsworthy. This is a complete and utter no-no. Particularly on or near an aircraft.

[golfbananajam]

@scifi
Not sure of your interpretation of the article here. It says

"Four agents of national police were traveling on the flight and as mark the protocol in such cases, the captain requested them to give up their weapons to be able to keep them in the cabin until they reached Madrid.

To prevent passengers to see the weapons, police turned away to one side of the row and manipulated the weapons inside a suitcase. However, one shot was fired but the bullet never came out of the suitcase."

To me, this suggests that the agents were unloading their weapons (removing the magazine and working [by hand] the mechanism several times to ensure there are no rounds in the chamber following which they would pull the trigger to reset the firing mechanism). This reads as if it is a classic accidental discharge during the unload, possibly caused because they were probably in a rush and doing it in a concealed way.

Thankfully, no one was hurt, but the question for me is why wasn;t this done BEFORE they got on the aircraft?

[victorc10]

This does not surprise me at all. There are certain places in the world where the ridiculous is quite normal.

[LEVC]

**** hits the fan in the "other" areas of the world too.............

Police officer in hospital after accidentally shooting himself in the leg | Home News | News | The Independent (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/police-officer-in-hospital-after-accidentally-shooting-himself-in-the-leg-9083732.html)

[Stanwell]

golf,
".. the bullet never came out of the suitcase."
I must get the name of that luggage manufacturer.

[core_dump]

"I must get the name of that luggage manufacturer."

I want the name of the ammunition manufacturer, so I can buy a different brand.

With respect to pulling the trigger to "reset the firing mechanism", that is borderline absurd in my opinion. Yes there are a few firearms where it is required to pull the trigger to accomplish this-or-that, but this is bad design and somewhat rare. If your weapon isn't equipped with a decocker, just leave it as it is. I mean you unloaded it and made sure of that, right? Pulling the trigger afterwards serves no purpose except to cause problems.

I agree that trying to unload while concealed was the primary cause. Sometimes it's hard enough to verify the chamber is really empty even in good lighting conditions. If your extractor slips off the round and you get too lazy to look down in there, bad deal. Hard to give everything a good look inside a suitcase.

[KelvinD]

I have seen people get confused. The usual routine when I was serving was remove the magazine, then cock the weapon to ensure that any round in the chamber would be ejected. Then squeeze the trigger to "ease spring". I saw one lad killed in Aden when a rather tired soldier, having just come off a 36 hour duty, got it the wrong way round. He cocked the weapon, then removed the magazine, then squeezed the trigger. Very sad. May I say I never understand this repeated cocking of weapons (or working of the mechanism by hand). If you have removed the magazine then a single "working" of the mechanism will make sure that anything left in there by mistake will be ejected.
In a similar vein, a soldier from the Royal Regiment of Scotland was killed this evening while taking part in a live firing exercise.

[Ollie Onion]

Who remembers this one!

US Airways Pilot's Gun Fires In Cockpit - CBS News (http://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-airways-pilots-gun-fires-in-cockpit/)

Would of loved to have seen the engineers reaction when he saw the bullet hole in the PFD. :-)

[Airbubba]

Who remembers this one!

The USAir incident was similar in that the gun was inadvertently discharged while attempting to comply with a protocol for securing the weapon.

From an earlier PPRuNe discussion of these firearm discharge incidents:

Also, it must be pointed out that Arab airlines have been victims of many hijackings over the years. I've flown into LHR with local Arab skymarshals in years past. One might presume the Israelis have done likewise for some time now as well. It is a little humorous to see the alleged furor over Western countries doing the same thing.

We did have a couple of guns fire accidentally in flight. One was supposedly secured in a storage area so the explanation of the discharge was difficult. Another incident involving a 747 classic occurred on final to LHR. A skymarshal was sitting on a cockpit jumpseat trying to take the last round out of his weapon to prepare for UK arrival formalities. The gun was jammed and he attempted to free the round with a little extra force. Somehow, the round was fired into the base of the captain's seat. The local pilots heard the bang and looked back at the expat PFE. He told me that he scanned his gauges, everything was OK and then they looked back and saw the skymarshal with an apologetic demeanor. Fortunately, no injuries in either of these incidents.

And, seems like years ago a FedEx pilot (not Auburn Calloway) accidentally fired a round into the American Airlines ticket counter in ANC while trying to get an offline jumpseat home. I believe he was traveling with a hunting rifle as a checked item.

[stilton]

No place for guns in the cockpit, these predictable mishaps are strong evidence of that.
Lucky nothing worse happened.


John Wayne wannabes should find a more appropriate place to blast away, like Arizona..

[Tourist]

If the weapon belonged to an Australian Defence Force person, when I served overseas, it would be an automatic six months at the Governors pleasure in DFCE Holsworthy. This is a complete and utter no-no. Particularly on or near an aircraft.

Is that actually true?
Sounds a little extreme and unlikely.

Our military would usually set a stiff financial penalty for a negligent discharge.

[sitigeltfel]

Oh, the memories!

Standing in line to clear weapon.
Clown in front cyles cocking mechanism on SLR.
Removes magazine.
Points muzzle into sandpit.
Pulls trigger.

For the next few minutes everyone in the room is half deaf, cursing, and trying to get all the sand out of their uniform and kit.

:*

[Hydromet]

If the weapon belonged to an Australian Defence Force person, when I served overseas, it would be an automatic six months at the Governors pleasure in DFCE Holsworthy. This is a complete and utter no-no. Particularly on or near an aircraft.
Used to be 1000 sandbags.