Posted on 05/11/2012 9:41:05 AM PDT by jazusamo
The Air Force late last month convened a summit in Ohio to address the most vexing problem of its premier jet fighter — pilots becoming dizzy from oxygen deprivation while flying the supersonic F-22 Raptor.
Scientists, manufacturers and Raptor pilots at Wright-PattersonAir Force Base brainstormed on why aviators — 25 to date — are returning from missions suffering from hypoxia, or oxygen deprivation.
“It was an update on where we were at,” said Lt. Col. Tadd Sholtis, a spokesman for the Air Force Air Combat Command at Langley Air Force Base. “We’re kind of closing in on some ideas.”
The Air Force hopes information-sharing, such as the April 26 Wright-Patterson summit, will show the 200 Raptor pilots, support crews and families that everything possible is being done.
For two pilots, the strategy didn’t work. Dressed in flight suits, the two Virginia AirNational Guard pilots engineered an embarrassing event for the Air Force: They appeared Sunday on CBS‘ “60 Minutes.”
Maj. Jeremy Gordon and Capt. Josh Wilson said they suffered severe cases of hypoxia and refused to fly the F-22 in January. Capt. Wilson has been reprimanded.
“I am not comfortable flying in the F-22 right now,” Maj. Gordon said.
~snip~
Retired Lt. Gen. Thomas G. McInerney, who logged 4,000 flying hours in fighters in Vietnam and other venues, offered blunt advice: “The Air Force has a problem, and they should not ground pilots or reprimand them. The Air Force should fix the problem.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
If the life support system has computer chips made in China, check there for a possible solution.
It’s amazing to me they haven’t found the problem or problems after all the years this has been going on, you make a valid point.
That is not acceptable at these prices.
Russian componets?
I bet that the Raptorski and the chinese knockoff will have fewer problems than this bird.
You’re absolutely right.
McPeak is an unparalleled ass who should not be allowed to comment on anything. He should be ignored, reviled, impugned and spat upon at every opportunity.
In any case, I don't think the pilots should be going public with this. Yes they are vulnerable in the F-22 but griping to the media is not appropriate. If they want, they can orchestrate a filibuster or something, but exposing our military weaknesses DIRECTLY TO THE MEDIA should be grounds for discharge. This should have been kept classified and never been made public. The acceptability of 'loose lips' under this administration is reprehensible. It's just one more example of Obama's sabotage of America.
They’ve got a team working on it. Let me help.
It sounds like they need to check system that supplies air to the pilot.
I couldn't agree more. Below is his one big accomplishment and thank the Lord it was retired when he retired.
This not a small problem. This is a major life support problem, that must be solve. If not, we restrict all aircraft with OBOGS to not more than 10,000 feet in altitude.
Maybe the F-22 Raptors are Leftists?
It’s a fixable problem. Fix it, and get ready to make more F-22s once we dump the commies who are running Washington.
Unacceptable? That is infinitely more mild than it should be.
These idiots, and that is what they are if they continue to put out statements like this and the last one to the effect, “we are studying the cause of the problem but can’t find it yet.”
Shoe clerk losers.
+1
Now, where's my $100K government grant for that critical study and earthshaking conclusion?
McPeak says:
“I think it’s a shame,” said retired Air ForceGen. Merrill A. McPeak, the service’s chief of staff in the early 1990s. “They must be planning on getting out of the Air Force and running for Congress, because that’s not the way professionals would deal with this problem. I would invite them to try a different plane — an airliner.”
Spoken like a true former and now wannabe tool.
On the other hand, there is hope here:
“If all that were in my chain of command, there would be some heads rolling somewhere,” said retired Air ForceMaj. Gen. Charles D. Link. “Pilots shouldn’t have to go to congressmen and get whistleblower protection in order to get relief from some kind of problem. It just shouldn’t happen. There’s a chain-of-accountability breakdown there somewhere.”
Aren’t we really getting to the point where mostly autonomous combat aircraft can do the job better anyway? It looks like human physiology is becoming the weakest link in these things on several levels. No pilot = smaller airframe, no life support, no need to mantain a deployed pilot overseas, probably much faster reaction times, ablity to perfom extreme G maneuvers that would incapacitate or kill a pilot, etc. Drones look more and more like the future of air combat.
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