56th Fighter Wing cancels local flights

In the latest environmental system debacle, the F-35A has joined the ranks of the F-22, F-18, and T-45. The 56th Fighter Wing at Luke AFB has cancelled local flying with their F-35As after five oxygen incidents since May 2nd. In all five incidents the backup oxygen generator activated and the pilots were able to land their aircraft without any problems.

The Wing is trying to find the root cause of the incidents, and the JPO has set up a team of engineers and specialists that will examine the systems to try to find the cause. Wing officials will brief the other pilots on what happened and how it was resolved, and the aeromedical branch will brief pilots on hypoxia events and symptoms before they resume flying.

www.airforcetimes.com...

Can't believe they haven't figured this one out yet.

Take one squadron.
Outfit every jet with detailed sensors.
Have them fly for a month.
Read the data.
Compare the BOBs and the WOWs.
Fix the problem.

Come on. Get to root cause guys. Geez.

a reply to: cosmania

You would think the manufacturers would have one flying around the clock trying to duplicate the issue.

a reply to: cosmania

This is getting ridiculous and way beyond the point of stupidity. I don't care what they have to do, but they need to get on the ball and fix this.

a reply to: Zaphod58

ZAPHOD,

That's my point. Spend $30Million dollars, but find this out. Shoot, they ain't flying anyway. Take an entire Hornet squadron out of it's normal rotation. Instrument up every possible contribution to the O2 system and take data. Not post mortem information, active info.

I'm sure they can begin to see outliers and indicators of performance drop offs in the system. Heck, it could be electrical distritbution, temp variation, humidity, but dang it, get your butts to work and actively gather data.

If 1 Super Hornet is being sold to Canada for $100 million, spend half of that to save a dozen in the US. Geez. It ain't rocket science. (Although it's close to aeronautical engineering) It's system test and eval. I'm just glad I'm not still flying T-45s, cuz it's getting scary out there.

Cosmo

a reply to: cosmania

It's bad enough when your front line fighters are trying to kill you, but when your trainers are doing it too, it's pathetic.

What I can't believe is that I'm reading about this. Why is the media able to openly publish such sensitive reports of weakness in our military capabilities?

a reply to: whywhynot

Because it's not a weakness. It's a random event that happens on an aircraft one flight, then not on another with the exact same aircraft. It's also, to a degree, related to the pilot himself.

a reply to: cosmania

My bet is on something simple like a supplier supplying bad O-Rings with a small chemical fault.

a reply to: Caughtlurking

It's almost certainly a bleed air leak. The problem is that those are almost impossible to find on the ground.

I can't think of a single valid excuse for this continuing stupidity.

As above, one squadron, or at least a few planes, is taken off line, of each type and studied in the air, 'til the cause is found.

If I recall correctly, this has already killed some pilots, has it not? Inexcusable.

a reply to: seagull

It indirectly killed an F-22 pilot in Alaska. He recognized the symptoms and was attempting to activate the backup oxygen system (the initial system was manually activated) when the aircraft went into a dive. He was twisted around trying to grab the pull ring, and didn't recognize that he was descending until it was too late to do anything.

originally posted by: Caughtlurking
a reply to: cosmania

You would think the manufacturers would have one flying around the clock trying to duplicate the issue.

This !

Also, as others have mentioned, take a squadron out of service and sensor up everything. Get those suppliers and manufacturers in there with their teams of people. Put em all on an ARB with a squadron and get this done.

Apparently you can also add the F-15 to the list.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Is that what happened?!!?

That is in excusable! Agree with everyone else... spend the money, fix the root cause, then keep them flying!

Grrrrrr....

a reply to: Zaphod58

Zaphod, can you or someone else educate and clarify me ( and possibly others) on this system? I'm familiar with the basics with what it does. But are these systems fairly identical across all fighter platforms? Same manufacturer, same or similar parts etc?

From the outside looking in, it seems that they would or are currently starting with the similarities on all fighters and working from there. I know it's obviously not that simple...

a reply to: Sagacity

They're similar to the bleed air pressurization system used on larger aircraft. There are a few manufacturers, but they all operate the same way. This has a pretty good description of how the system works.

Honeywe ll OBOGS

The F-22, F-35, and F-18 all use the Honeywell system. The T-45 uses a different system, so has had different problems than the F-18 has had.

a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF

They initially said that it was pilot error, but the Pentagon IG ordered them to take a longer look at it, and to revise the results of the investigation to show that it was related to the oxygen system, and that there was no way that he could have activated the backup system, and flown the aircraft at the same time.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I just read the initial report in the paper.

Thanks for taking the long term look! And thanks for the follow up!!

a reply to: Zaphod58

Thank you sir. I have some reading to do )