The risk of aircraft armament cooking off is a significant hazard during pre-flight operations , especially for aircraft carriers . Fuel fires , which can spread across the flight deck rapidly and engulf many aircraft , are the most serious risk . This was a significant contributor to the 1967 fire disaster aboard the , when such a fire ( set off by an inadvertently fired Zuni rocket striking the fuel tanks of a waiting A-4 Skyhawk ) detonated two unguided bombs of Korean War vintage which had been loaded onto the stricken bomber , rupturing the fuel tanks of adjacent aircraft and setting off a chain reaction of similarly cooked off bombs . Because of the age and condition of the first two bombs , the fire safety crew was unable to cool them before they cooked off , which should have been possible for contemporary weapons with higher cook-off temperatures
1967 fire disaster
1967 USS Forrestal fire
Cooking off