HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN TODAY
 

Surprised that with a supposed safety culture that this sort of thing still happens today. The family of a man who was shot in the head and killed by an F-16 pilot has been awarded $24,633,042.13 (£19,045,652.35) in damages. Charles Holbrook was killed in January 2017 when he was shot by a student pilot during a night-time weapons training exercise at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, USA. The 53-year-old business development manager from Florida - who was there to demonstrate a laser imaging device - died several hours later in hospital. Court records state: "Charles Holbrook was killed when an F-16 student pilot mistook the line of rental cars for the similarly aligned target and was ordered to fire at the group, blowing up one of the rental cars and striking Charles Holbrook in the head with a 20mm round. "Mr Holbrook died several hours later at the hospital." The pilot that shot Mr Holbrook was using night vision goggles for the first time on his first night close support mission. Court records state: "Despite the fact that his instruments showed he was on the incorrect target, a target that was not lased or sparkled, but had a red warning strobe light, after his failed attempt to hit the wrong target, neither the MP (Mishap Pilot) or his instructor realised his mistake. When the MP turned on the air-to-ground strafe mode and a strafing reticle appeared in his heads-up display, there was no target information to aim at in the heads-up display, because the target was off to the right. "The MP either did not recognise or misinterpreted the significant information in his heads-up display, i.e. that the steer point diamond and laser targeting reticle were absent from his display. "After receiving the okay from the MIP (Mishap Instructor Pilot), the MP squeezed the trigger while the nose of the aircraft was pointed at the OP (observation post) and sent 155 rounds of Vulcan cannon ammunition toward the ground crew, blowing up a rental car and striking Chuck Holbrook in the head with a 20mm round." Mr Holbrook's wife Belen sued the United States through the US Air Force for wrongful death shortly after on behalf of herself and the couple's young daughter, and on 14 October, the damages were awarded by Magistrate Judge Stephan Vidmar during a telephonic hearing. Court records state: "The Defendant United States of America through the U.S. Air Force was responsible for the acts and omissions of their employees, agents, apparent agents and contractors, including Defendant John Does I and II, the JTAC (Joint Terminal Attack Controllers) personnel and those US Air Force members responsible for training, supervising, directing and ensuring safety in the live fire night-time run."

It's hard to imagine the level of negligence and range safety mismanagement required to even create that scenario, never mind the ultimate act that killed this guy.

Simple answer - USA

https://www.pprune.org/military-avia...rol-tower.html

Not just the Yanks.

Thats a pretty low blow. Lots of nations have made mistakes in training through a variety of reasons.

Quite - https://www.independent.co.uk/news/b...r-1143918.html

Although I think the main point of the OP was not what has happened before but how does it still happen.

I think the 6 Ps got mixed up,should have been:
Proper,Preparation,Prevents, P***,Poor,Performance and not P***,Poor,Preparation,Prevented,Proper,Performance.

But they give him night vision goggles for the first AND live ammunition? I have not used NV goggles but I understand they take getting used to.
That appears to be a mistake at planning level, long before anyone got near the range.

not really. Sums up the attitude. Shoot, open fire, drop the ordnance, obliterate the ‘target’, ask the questions, sort out the collateral damage later.

I witnessed a completely British Blue-on-Blue in 2008. Brit JTAC, Brit Fixed Wing providing the laser spot, Brit AH firing the lethal ordnance. Just added for balance.

Mishaps
 

Twice as groundcrew I had two.....not one,bomb bay full of various ordnance drop to the concrete in front of me!Depth charges,smoke bombs sonobouys and the second time a torpedo.All down to the armourer and tac navigator and finger trouble!

Should one expect a more effective oversight in training than in the heat of combat?

That was my reaction on first reading.

Being hit in the head with a 20mm never ends well, I’ve witnessed two blue on blue in Afgan involving British and American units.

On a slightly lighter note. I just came across this but do not have a date for it:

The South African National Defense Force has launched an investigation into an accident at Wallmansthal military base in which during a fire prevention exercise, 83 military vehicles were completely destroyed by fire.
From South Africa’s Cape Times Newspaper sent in by Robin Mousley

Ahh the old bigotry, it’s never far away for some.