6 test bombs, missile fall off Selfridge plane

Luzerne — A plane from Selfridge Air National Guard Base accidentally dropped six training bombs and a training missile over a wooded area east of Grayling.

No one was injured in the incident which happened around 9 a.m. Oct. 25 near Luzerne in Oscoda County.

Michigan National Guard members located the munitions in the Mio Ranger District of Huron Manistee National Forest on Sunday and recovered them Monday, said Lt. Col. Dawn Dancer, spokeswoman for the Michigan National Guard.

The aircraft, an A-10 Thunderbolt II, was headed to drop the training munitions on preset targets at Camp Grayling Air Gunnery Range near Waters when the incident happened. Camp Grayling is about 216 miles northwest of Selfridge in Harrison Township.

Dancer said it is unclear how the munitions were released from the plane and the Michigan National Guard is investigating.

The training bombs — called bomb dummy units — are about two-feet long and did not contain explosives, Dancer said. They are designed to release a puff of smoke so pilots know when they have hit their target, she said.

Dancer said the biggest concern was that the bombs produce heat. “So if somebody got to them when they were first dropped, potentially it could burn them,” she said.

The training missile, which was about eight-feet long, also did not emit projectiles.

Where the munitions fell, a wooded area near the intersection of Kinsey Hunt and Ridge roads, is home to wildlife and private property. There are no residential areas within 10 miles, said Kate Salm, spokeswoman for the Huron Manistee National Forest.

Salm said her office alerted hunters last week to be vigilant of any munitions. It’s bow hunting season for deer.

“We offered our assistance but we don’t have anybody trained to look for munitions like that so we left it to the experts,” Salm said.

Dancer said this was the first time, to her knowledge, a plane accidentally dropped munitions between Selfridge and Camp Grayling Air Gunnery Range. The National Guard has flown thousands of planes on that route, she said.

“We have to wait until the investigation is over so we know what happened,” Dancer said.

nterry@detroitnews.com

@NicquelTerry