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KFWB NEWS 980 -- ALL NEWS ALL THE TIME

Saturday, June 29, 2002

American Pilot Who Mistakenly Bombed Canadians Was Told Not to Fire

WASHINGTON (AP) 6.28.02, 1:12p -- The U.S. fighter pilot who
mistakenly bombed Canadian troops in Afghanistan had been told
to hold his fire shortly before the deadly blunder, an
American officer said Friday.
The April 18 incident was caused by the F-16 pilot's "failure
... to exercise appropriate flight discipline," said Marine
Corps Lt. Gen. Michael DeLong. Four Canadian soldiers were
killed and eight injured when the American pilot, identified
as Maj. Harry Schmidt, dropped a 500-pound, laser-guided bomb
on them.
DeLong said a U.S. military panel recommended "appropriate
disciplinary action" against Schmidt and the unidentified lead
pilot of the pair of F-16s involved. The panel also
recommended that some members of the pilots' chain of command
be disciplined, De Long said.
DeLong, second in command at the U.S. Central Command, refused
to say what disciplinary actions the panel recommended. The
Air Force will decide what discipline will be given, DeLong
said. U.S. military officials have not said whether they plan
to compensate Canada or the families of the soldiers killed.
A parallel Canadian inquiry found that neither pilot knew
Canadian troops were holding a training exercise with live
ammunition south of Kandahar that night. The U.S. inquiry
found the pilot believed he was under attack and was acting in
self-defense by dropping the bomb, DeLong said. DeLong refused
to say whether U.S. pilots had been told about the Canadian
exercise.
The bombing caused the Canadian military's first deaths in a
combat operation since the Korean War and outraged many
Canadians. Both investigations concluded that the Canadian
military had properly notified American forces about the
training exercise.
The two U.S. F-16s were returning from a mission over
Afghanistan when the lead pilot saw what he described as
fireworks, DeLong said. The pilot thought it was anti-aircraft
fire and asked for permission from a U.S. AWACS surveillance
plane to investigate.
Schmidt, the wingman, asked the AWACS crew for permission to
fire his 20mm cannon at the site. The AWACS crew told him to
hold his fire and provide more information. Schmidt provided
that information and, "declaring self-defense, rolled in on
the target," and dropped the bomb that killed the Canadian
soldiers, DeLong said.

-- continued --

DeLong refused to give any more details, saying repeatedly
that a military investigation of the matter was continuing.
Remaining questions about the incident include:
--Why the pilots thought they were under attack by
anti-aircraft fire. Canadian officials have said their troops
did not fire any surface-to-air weapons during the exercise.
--Why the pilots were unaware of the Canadian exercise. DeLong
would not say whether a failure to tell the pilots about the
exercise was one of the command failures identified in the
U.S. report.
--Whether fatigue may have played a role. Fighters patrolling
over Afghanistan have flown missions for 10 hours or longer.
Maurice Baril, the retired general who led the Canadian
inquiry, said Canadian investigators only were allowed to
submit written questions to the two American pilots.
"We certainly would have loved to have had the pilots in front
of us to talk to them," Baril said at a news conference in
Ottawa, Canada's capital.
The four soldiers killed in the accident were members of the
3rd Battalion of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light
Infantry, which is based near Edmonton, Alberta. Schmidt is
with the Illinois Air National Guard's 170th Fighter Squadron,
based in Springfield, Ill.
Schmidt's lawyer released a statement shortly after the
incident saying the pilot did not know the ground troops were
part of the U.S.-led coalition.
"The pilot believes that he properly followed procedures based
on the information he had at the time," said the lawyer, Air
Force Capt. James Key.

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