On April 17, 2002 over Afghanistan, U.S F-16 Major Harry Schmidt mistook Canadian anti-tank and machine-gun excercises as enemy fire and dropped a laser-guided bomb on the 3rd Battalion of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, wounding eight and killing four.
Schmidt and his air-partner Major William Umbach were returning from a 10-hour patrol, at more than 15,000 feet, when they spotted surface-to-air fire. Thinking Umbach was under attack, Schmidt asked flight control permission to fire his 20 mm cannons, to which flight control replied "hold fire." Four seconds later, Schmidt said he was "rolling in, in self defense." He dropped a laser-guided bomb 35 seconds later.
On September 11, 2002, Schmidt and Umbach were officially charged with 4 counts of negligent manslaughter, 8 counts of aggravated assault, and 1 count of dereliction of duty.
According to the defense lawyers of the two pilots, Schmidt and Umbach were told by their superiors to use "go pills" (amphetamines) on their missions, and blame to April 17 incident on the drugs.
On June 30, 2003, the United States Air Force announced Schmidt would face a court-martial for dereliction of duty. The statement said "Schmidt willfully failed to exercise appropriate flight discipline over his aircraft."
According to Reuters, "Had Schmidt accepted the nonjudicial punishment, he would have faced no more than 30 days confinement to quarters, loss of half his pay for two months and a restriction on his movements for 60 days. He would have had to face an evaluation board to determine if he should be allowed to fly."
