UDOT admits it was at fault in backyard artillery accident

DAILY HERALD ^ | Michael Rigert

[JustReading]

Friday, March 25, 2005 - 12:00 AM |

UDOT admits it was at fault in backyard artillery accident

Michael Rigert DAILY HERALD

The Utah Department of Transportation said it was most definitely at fault when an artillery round that easily could have killed several people landed in a Pleasant Grove family's back yard Wednesday afternoon. The round was meant for avalanche control in Provo Canyon.

Tom Hudachko, a Utah Department of Transportation spokesman, said crews were conducting avalanche control with the cannon in the vicinity of Slide Canyon and Lost Creek when the 105 mm howitzer projectile was launched over the mountainside. A total of eight rounds were fired by a gunner team, and it initially appeared the final round was a dud.

"We fired an errant shot that missed (its target) ... the shell was loaded with too much gunpowder that caused it to overshoot the target," he said. "We take full responsibility for the incident."

[JustReading]

Maybe if we gave them a little more gunpowder they'd blow themselves up instead of us

[Grut]

Stuff happens, and in this case UDOT seems to be 'fessing up admirably.

[Horatio Gates]

And yet the liberals tell us Howitzers are only safe in the hands of the government.

[GoldCountryRedneck]

Cannons are used up here in the Sierras (CA) as well...and save countless lives via proactive avalance control.

Just a case of "S**T Happens!"

[datura]

ADJUST FIRE, OVER!!

[JustReading]

Kinda reminds me of the Napoleon Dynamite scene where Uncle Rico says something to the effect of:

How much you wanna bet I can throw a football over them mountains?

[Billthedrill]

One tiny quibble - an artillery "shell" is the projectile, not the casing, and it isn't loaded with "gunpowder." Neither is the casing, for that matter, it's loaded with "propellant."

[KarlInOhio]

Finally late in the article the author tells that the artillery shells come with 7 bags of powder, but only 5 were supposed to be used for the range they were firing. The crew used all 7 for the last round.

[Lazamataz]

That explosion you hear is the sound of several people's careers ending.

[JustReading]

At least until they take refresher courses in physics, gun safety, and diversity celebrations. We're talking about government employees.

[JustReading]

It was probably either that or dump the stuff into the fuel tank to test for an increase in horsepower.

[KS Flyover]

Avalanche Control Round Lands in Backyard - 03/24/2005

http://tv.ksl.com/index.php?nid=5&sid=157880

[JustReading]

Sorry for the repost - I searched first but didn't find.

[Chode]

drop 3000... fire for effect!!!

[dljordan]

"We take full responsibility for the incident."

I must have entered an alternate bizarro universe. A government agency admitting responsiblity for something other than picking up their paycheck? How very strange.

[DJ Taylor]

"It's obviously a freak accident,"...

No, it's obviously a lack of attention to detail.

[Reaganesque]

I don't believe this was an accident for a moment. Provo has wanted to invade Pleasant Grove for years...;-)

[vetvetdoug]

Stuff like this happens all of the time in Lawton, Oklahoma. Big deal, a round went too far.....

[commonasdirt]

Hey, gotta keep the slopes safe for upscale visiting yuppies after all.

[T-Bird45]

Stuff like this happens all of the time in Lawton, Oklahoma. Big deal, a round went too far.....

Hope "all of the time" was typed with tongue firmly in cheek. It has been a while since one went into Lawton. The most recent incident I can recall was back in the 80's with a round (or rounds) going into Medicine Park. This error was because the battery was laid 3200 out, an artillery term meaning 180 degrees the wrong way. This was done by an active Army unit. That active Army part was important to me because I was in a National Guard unit at that time. Even though we fired maybe twice a year at Fort Sill, we never sent a round out of safe or were cited by Range Control.

Just in the few months I was at Ft. Sill in the Officer Basic Course, two different units firing for us were slammed for out of safe firing procedures and results. Both times, my fellow officer students and I were endangered by those actions. In one of the incidents, a mortar crew that was firing for us from a nearby position were crawling under their tracks seeking cover from approaching 105mm rounds.