Report Faults Navy Pilot in Kuwait Bombing Accident

A Navy fighter pilot was primarily to blame for an accidental bombing at a Kuwait military range last month that killed six people, the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East has concluded.

Army Gen. Tommy Franks, who oversees U.S. Central Command, said in an investigative report that the pilot mistook an observation tower at the Udairi training range in northwest Kuwait for an intended target that was more than a mile away, according to military officials.

Franks recommended that the pilot’s commanders consider whether to take disciplinary action, or less serious “administrative” steps, against him, officials said. He found that two air controllers also made mistakes in directing the F/A-18 to the bomb site, but he considered these errors less serious than the pilot’s, officials said.

Five U.S. servicemen and a major in the New Zealand army died when the F/A-18 flown by Navy Cmdr. David O. Zimmerman dropped three 500-pound bombs on the range.

One of the air controllers, who has not been identified, was piloting an F-14 at the time of the incident and gave Zimmerman “nonstandard” directions to his target, thus contributing to the accident, officials said.

The other controller, Air Force Staff Sgt. Timothy Crusing, was on the ground and among those injured. Officials said Crusing failed to keep track of Zimmerman’s plane during its approach.

While an earlier investigation recommended action against Zimmerman, Franks recommended only that disciplinary steps be considered. Possible sanctions range from an administrative reprimand to a court-martial. The ultimate decision on discipline will be made by senior officers at U.S. Central Command.