Practice Bomb on Runway Causes Delays

Windsor Locks, Connecticut  Commercial planes at the Bradley International Airport were delayed about 20 minutes as Air National Guard Authorities removed a practice BDU-33 bomb from a runway.

The BDU-33 was unintentionally deposited on the runway from an Air National Guard A-10 Thunderbolt aircraft returning from a training mission. During the course of the training sortie, the pilot noticed that the practice bomb had failed to fall free from the plane. The pilot reportedly tried several maneuvers in the air over the intended target area in an attempt to get the bomb loose. After the maneuvers failed to free the bomb, he returned to the Bradley airport with the practice bomb still attached.

As the plane was landing at the airport, which is shared with commercial aircraft, the BDU-33 decided it had a long enough ride and that it was time to finally fall off. The plane landed safely while the bomb skipped across the runway. Air National Guard officials responded and removed the practice bomb without incident. None of the nearby commercial planes or public passengers were in danger at any time during the plane landing or bomb recovery effort as the BDU-33 itself only contains a small titanium tetrachloride spotting charge.