EA-18 crew seriously injured in ECS failure

An EA-18 Growler flying from Whidbey Island to China Lake suffered severe frostbite injuries due to an inflight ECS failure. The crew received an ECS icing warning, before freezing mist began to come out of the cockpit vents. The canopy and instruments froze, and the crew had to use their Garmin watches to monitor their heading and altitude.

The cockpit eventually dropped to -30 before they were able to land, causing serious frostbite to their hands. This is the first time the ECS has failed in flight like this, but the system has been causing a lot of problems for the F-18 fleet, including a serious uptick in PEs.

www.defensenews.com...

Geez tried to be killed by your own plane..Lucky to be alive..

a reply to: Zaphod58

Horrible way to go. Knowing what is happening and fighting time. Geez, makes the Stewart Paine event seem humane (on the scale of impending doom that is. Most humble respects for all parties involved in this thread’s subject matter. No harm intended. Just that these things happen).

What the hell is going on and why hasn't this been fixed? This is beyond ridiculous.