HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah (ABC 4 News) - An F-16 jet fighter drops two 500-pound bombs and two external fuel tanks before making an emergency landing Thursday afternoon at Hill Air Force Base. The tanks and bombs fell on a remote area in the northwest section of the base. "The pilot will do everything he can to jettison his stores in an uninhabited area and that appears to be what he did," said Colonel Scott Zobrist, Commander of the 388th Fighter Wing at Hill. "The investigation is ongoing, but it appears that he followed procedure."
Colonel Zobrist said the pilot took off just before 4:00 p.m. and quickly declared an emergency. He flew to the north of the air base, turned for a short approach, dropped his tanks and ordinance and landed safely. Why was the drop necessary? Colonel Zobrist explained that the last thing you want is for a pilot to make an emergency landing with a 25-million dollar fighter loaded down will all that fuel and explosives.
One of the Mark-82 bombs did detonate on impact destroying what's described as a shed and knocking out power to a 3rd of the base. The Roy Gate was closed and traffic routed away from the blast area.
The explosion also rattled nearby businesses. Steven Ross was working at the Guitar Center near the Roy Gate. "We heard a loud booming noise," he said. "The whole wall behind me shook." Kathy Reynolds was working at a business on the other side of the freeway from Hill AFB. She said it was as if a giant had hit the roof. "My boss went up on the roof and he looked over and saw the plume of smoke."
The impact zone was cordoned off by Hill security and Explosive Ordinance Disposal was brought in. Because of its close proximity to the impact zone, I-15 was shutdown between Clearfield and Riverdale. "We're just trying to play it safe and cover all our bases to see if there's anything to worry about out there or if everything is contained," said Colonel Patrick Higby, Commander of the 75th Air Base Wing. The freeway reopened at 6:00 p.m. after the one remaining bomb and the two fuel tanks were found intact. EOD will begin recovery of the bomb Friday morning.
