I was discussing this terrible accident with some former fighter pilots at work. About the only way we can understand how the pilot thought he was under fire from the exercise below is if he saw the tracers and muzzle flashes in a very dark region and thought they were firing at him. I remember some night fire exercises were tracers were deflected up after hitting the target. Perhaps that happened and a few came his way. One thing we don't know is if he knew there was an exercise underway. If he didn't, then seeing a lot of muzzle flashes and tracers might've startled him into thinking he was under attack.

Regardless of the cause, this tragedy is a damned shame. I hope they can determine the cause so this sort of thing doesn't happen again. Military service is dangerous even in training.