Hill Air Force Base officials are preparing for the safe disposal of an unexploded munition jettisoned from an F-16 Thursday during an in-flight emergency.



At approximately 4 p.m. Thursday, an F-16 pilot had an in-flight emergency on takeoff. The pilot followed emergency procedures, which included jettisoning external fuel tanks and two unarmed Mark 82 general purpose bombs, then landed the F-16 on base safely. One Mk-82 general purpose bomb unexpectedly exploded upon impact in a remote, uninhabited portion of the base and caused a power outage on base. The second bomb buried itself in the ground in the same general area of the base.



The fuels technicians on Hill have already recovered the jettisoned external fuel tanks. The explosive ordnance disposal experts and base emergency management teams are going to destroy the second Mk-82 with a shaped charged to safely direct the explosion.

See details in Thursday's Clipper.