History Main / TestingRangeMishap

[[AC:Comic Books]]
* ''Franchise/TheIncredibleHulk:'' Technically speaking, Bruce Banner's Gamma Bomb worked ''perfectly''. It's just that moments before it went off, Bruce noticed a teenager had somehow driven onto the testing range and not noticed the bomb. He ordered his assistant to delay the launch, but the man was a spy, so he held off. As a result, Doc Banner got pelted by Gamma Rays, turning him into the Incredible Hulk.

[[AC:Films -- Animated]]
* ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'': [[spoiler:Abigail Callaghan's backstory was that she was a test pilot for a teleportation experiment that ended with her appearing to be dead]].

[[AC:Films -- Live-Action]]
* The main characters of ''Film/OctoberSky'' move their rocket experiments into the woods after one early demonstration in a front yard causes an explosion. They have several more accidents there, but wind up being blamed for causing a forest fire until protagonist Homer proves [[NotMeThisTime it wasn't their fault]].

* ''Iron Man'':
** ''Film/IronMan1'': Tony Stark goes through a lot of crashes and such in his tests and training with his PoweredArmor back in the United States.
** In ''Film/IronMan2'', [[HauledBeforeASenateSubCommittee Tony is brought to Washington to explain]] why he refuses to share his PoweredArmor technology with the U.S. military, specially after several other countries have started programs to develop their own power suits. Tony then [[HollywoodHacking shows everyone on the monitors]] the progress of [[DisastrousDemonstration these programs.]]
* ''Film/{{Steel}}'': At the beginning of the movie, the test of a new kind of energy weapon at an army range causes a collapse that kills one person and puts another in a wheelchair for life. The weapon is deemed a failure, while the guy operating the equipment is dishonorably discharged (he deliberately raised the power to show off the weapon). After leaving, the bad guy decides to rebuild the weapon and sell it to criminals all over the world.

[[AC:Literature]]
* In the ''[[Literature/TheBelgariad Belgariad]]'' prequel ''Polgara the Sorceress'', Duke Kathandrion is killed when his new siege engine design explodes in a field test. Polgara realizes that his engineering calculations didn't account for the strength of its wooden beams, right in time to watch a chunk of one [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice go through him]].

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* ''Series/TheSixMillionDollarMan'': Steve Austin was an astronaut who was chosen to give a test flight to a new aircraft. Unfortunately, the test went awry and he crashed, leaving him severely injured. However, the agency has developed cybernetic implants that can replace his injured body parts and repairs Austin's body. That is how he became the title character.
* ''Series/{{Mythbusters}}'': The Mythbusters typically go to areas to test myths, such as the Alameda Bomb Range. One incident with the Build Team resulted in a cannonball being launched beyond the bomb range and hitting a house miles away, which got the whole crew banned from the bomb range from then on up until the series finale. When they'd fired the cannon, its muzzle had lifted up, causing the cannonball to deflect off and over the berm behind the target and travel into the residential neighborhood behind it, a possibility that they said was really something that they should have considered beforehand.

[[AC:Toys]]
* ''Toys/{{BIONICLE}}'': Matau was testing the prototype Moto-Sled in the Test Track of the Moto-Hub when the handle broke off and ended up crashing. Fortunately, Lhikan stopped his fall before handing him a Toa Stone.

[[AC:VideoGames]]
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'':
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'', Tarhiel the wizard abruptly falls out of the sky in front of the player character at one location in the wilderness, having developed a NotQuiteFlight scroll that lets him cover vast distances InASingleBound... but which wears off right before landing. The name of the scrolls? [[IcarusAllusion Icarian]] [[WhatDidYouExpectWhenYouNamedIt Flight]].
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'', Ancotar is an antisocial wizard who found a remote MageTower to use as a lab, to the repeated dismay of the nearby village. The latest of his experiments to afflict the village is a permanent invisibility spell that happened to target every living creature in the region.

[[AC:Web Original]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'': PlayedForLaughs in "Tails' New Home". While trying to find a foster parent for Tails, Sonic takes him to the remote home of [[DrillSergeantNasty Sergeant Doberman]]. Doberman spontaneously makes Sonic and Tails do exercises, but is interrupted by an explosion near them. He nonchalantly explains that his wife is doing target practice at the artillery range... [[BlindWithoutEm without glasses]].
--->''Hmm... probably shoulda waited till she got her new glasses.''
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'': Red Star's backstory shows that he was part of a SuperSoldier experiment, and while he was in a testing range demonstrating his abilities against tanks, PowerIncontinence causes him to accidentally destroy a city.

[[AC:RealLife]]

[[AC:Film]]

* ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'': [[spoiler:Abigail Callaghan's backstory was that she was a test pilot for a teleportation experiment that ended with her appearing to be dead]].

* ''Series/{{Mythbusters}}'': The Mythbusters typically go to areas to test myths, such as the Alameda Bomb Range. One incident with the Build Team resulted in a cannonball being launched beyond the bomb range and hitting a house miles away, which got the whole crew banned from the bomb range from then on up until the series finale.

* ''LightNovel/KnightsAndMagic'':

* ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'': [[spoiler:Abigail Callaghan's backstory was that she was a test pilot for a teleportation experiment that ended up with her appearing to be dead]].

* Race car driver Bruce [=McLaren=] was killed as a result of a testing accident. He was test driving a new race car developed by his company when the rear bodywork became adrift. With the loss of downforce, he lost control of the car and crashed, dying instantly.
* Ken Miles was killed while testing out a new Ford race car, the proposed successor to the [=GT40=] he had driven in the 24 Hours of [=LeMans=]. As of 2022, the cause of the crash is still unknown. The fatal crash is depicted near the end of ''Film/FordVFerrari''.

[[AC:LightNovels]]

[[AC:Literature]]
* In the ''[[Literature/TheBelgariad Belgariad]]'' prequel ''Polgara the Sorceress'', Duke Kathandrion is killed when his new siege engine design explodes in a field test. Polgara realizes that his engineering calculations didn't account for the strength of its wooden beams, right in time to watch a chunk of one [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice go through him]].

See also DisastrousDemonstration, FreakLabAccident, and PracticeTargetOverkill. FailsafeFailure may occur in this. May overlap with TrainingMontage and HowDoIShotWeb.

* ''Film/IronMan1'': Tony Stark goes through a lot of crashes and such in his tests and training with his PoweredArmor back in the United States.
* In ''[[Film/IronMan Iron Man-2]]'', [[HauledBeforeASenateSubCommittee Tony is brought to Washington to explain]] why he refuses to share his PoweredArmor technology with the U.S. military, specially after several other countries have started programs to develop their own power suits. Tony then [[HollywoodHacking shows everyone on the monitors]] the progress of [[DisastrousDemonstration these programs.]]
* ''Disney/BigHero6'': [[spoiler:Abigail Callaghan's backstory was that she was a test pilot for a teleportation experiment that ended up with her appearing to be dead]].

* In ''Discworld/RaisingSteam'', Dick Simnel follows in his father's footsteps of engineering the first steam locomotive ''very carefully'' after seeing what a boiler explosion [[NotEnoughToBury left of his father]]. When some people try to copy his design and end up as a cloud of superheated PinkMist, he starts taking apprentices to head off any further incidents.

* In ''Film/IronMan'', [[HauledBeforeASenateSubCommittee Tony is brought to Washington to explain]] why he refuses to share his PoweredArmor technology with the U.S. military, specially after several other countries have started programs to develop their own power suits. Tony then [[HollywoodHacking shows everyone on the monitors]] the progress of [[DisastrousDemonstration these programs.]]

* ''Film/IronMan'': Tony Stark goes through a lot of crashes and such in his tests and training with his PoweredArmor back in the United States.
* ''Film/BigHero6'': [[spoiler:Abigail Callaghan's backstory was that she was a test pilot for a teleportation experiment that ended up with her appearing to be dead]].

** In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind'', Tarhiel the wizard abruptly falls out of the sky in front of the player character at one location in the wilderness, having developed a NotQuiteFlight spell that lets him cover vast distances InASingleBound... but that wears off right before landing.
** In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'', Ancotar is an antisocial wizard who found a remote MageTower to use as a lab, to the repeated dismay of the nearby village. The latest of his experiments to afflict the village is a permanent invisibility spell that happened to target every living creature in the region.

Typically involves a MadScientist, and the nearby locals who dread anything that happens.

See also DisastrousDemonstration and FreakLabAccident. FailsafeFailure may occur in this. May overlap with TrainingMontage and HowDoIShotWeb.

* The main characters of ''Film/OctoberSky'' move their rocket experiments into the woods after one early demonstration in a front yard causes an explosion. They have several more accidents there, but wind up being MisBlamed for causing a forest fire until protagonist Homer proves [[NotMeThisTime it wasn't their fault]].

See also DisastrousDemonstration. FailsafeFailure may occur in this. May overlap with TrainingMontage and HowDoIShotWeb.

* ''LiveActionTV/{{Mythbusters}}'': The Mythbusters typically go to areas to test myths, such as the Alameda Bomb Range. One incident with the Build Team resulted in a cannonball being launched beyond the bomb range and hitting a house miles away, which got the whole crew banned from the bomb range from then on up until the series finale.

** Eru's testing for an [[AutomaticCrossbows crossbow]] ArmCannon for the [[MiniMecha Silhouette Gear]] shows that the arrow not only easily breaks the wooden targets, but continues flying and destroying the wall behind it.