Friendly Flak.

Two F/A-18C Hornets were on a missile shooting exercise, the wingman armed with an AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile. The target was a BQM-74 drone. In his attack run, the wingman approached the target from the rear quarter at minimum range. The pilot fired the missile and it ran true, striking the BQM-74 and shattering it. The Hornet maintained its track a few seconds longer toward what had been the target and flew through the metal fragmentation pattern that resulted from the accurate missile hit. The starboard trailing edge flap, starboard horizontal stabilizer and both engines sustained damage, but the aircraft was flyable.

The wingman informed the leader of his situation and shut down the port engine due to an aural warning tone. The flight proceeded to home base where the wingman executed a successful straight-in approach to landing with a short field arrestment.

Grampaw Pettibone says:

Target fixation has bedeviled fliers ever since the first bomb was heaved from an open cockpit. More than one pilot has scored a personal--and final--bull's-eye because pull-up was executed a precious second or two late, particularly against ground targets.

There is danger in air-to-air work, as this Hornet driver learned. Nowadays, the task loading is greater than way back when. This pilot had much to do--setting up the AIM-120 for the shoot, scanning the head-up display, etc.--while traveling at a very fast clip, then firing from minimum range. To avoid friendly flak, or worse, keep that scan going, and pull up and away in a timely manner.