F-22 Stealth Fighter Cover-up?

Discussion in 'Warfare / Military' started by waltky, May 9, 2012.

  1. waltky

    waltky Well-Known Member

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    Whistle-blower retaliation by the Air Force...
    :steamed:
    Lawyer: Second pilot was pulled from F-22 after interview on safety issues
    May 2, 2014 — A second F-22 Raptor pilot who spoke publicly about safety issues with the fighter jet was barred from flying the plane not long after appearing on national television two years ago, his attorney said Thursday.
     
  2. Taxcutter

    Taxcutter New Member

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    This oxygen system problem is a puzzlement. The F-22 uses essentially the same system that has been used for decades in F-15s.

    You don't use compressed oxygen in a fighter. Too heavy. They use a chemical reaction to liberate oxygen. Much smaller and lighter and since the early 70s completely reliable.
     
  3. Texan

    Texan Well-Known Member

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    I wonder if the problem could be in the composites used as compared to the alloy skins of previous generation fighters. Maybe they are gassing as a reaction to heat from the engine and air friction in flight. Is the air system exposed to the composites during it's recycling? The problem seems to be worst in composite skinned aircraft.
     
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  4. AlpinLuke

    AlpinLuke Well-Known Member

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    Everybody clap your hands ... :clapping:

    Here [but really here, close to my home town!] in Italy, we are producing first Italian F35 [A version, for the B version we are still studying the assembly instructions ...:fingerscrossed: even if we need it for our new carrier].

    I am sure that our engineers will take advantage from problems so far recorded in stealth units. [Italians are masters in this, so there are good chances we will improve the plane].

    Regarding the problem here mention, I spend my two cents: the experience with Eurofighter would suggest to trust more computers to give more dynamic capabilities to the unit [the Eurofighter Typhoon couldn't keep on flying in combat without computers which generate a "dynamic instability"].
     
  5. waltky

    waltky Well-Known Member

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    Mebbe the Pentagon has developed a jet beyond the capabilities of humans...
    :confusion:
    Scientists Develop Quick Way for Pilots to Detect Hypoxia Symptoms
    Oct 31, 2015 - Researchers with the U.S. Air Force may have found a way to detect hypoxia in pilots in real-time during flights by measuring volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, in their breath, according to a new study.
     
  6. Rerem

    Rerem New Member

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    This emerged about 4 yr ago, and by now may be fixed. You don't know there's any issue.. till there is and it was not happening all the time.

    Compressing the chest too much... will make breathing harder, but you need some presurrizing just to breathe at high altitudes. What Blackbird pilots wore was almost a space suit.

    FWIW... someone commented on Scuba... and these systems are different. They don't have to be portable. They are not under-water where surroundings naturally have pressure.
     
  7. waltky

    waltky Well-Known Member

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    Automatic oxygen backups installed in F-22's...
    :fingerscrossed:
    New Technology Aims to Track Hypoxia-Like Symptoms in Fighter Pilots
    Jul 15, 2016 | A British company is teaming up with the Air Force to design a system that could assess and even treat hypoxia-like symptoms in pilots before they become a threat.
     
  8. waltky

    waltky Well-Known Member

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    F-18 and EA18G's affected too?...
    :omg:
    Cockpit Hypoxia 'Number One Safety Issue' for Naval Aviation
    Aug 19, 2016 | The U.S. Navy has yet to solve a troubling pattern of hypoxia-like symptoms in the cockpit among pilots of F/A-18 Hornet variants and EA-18G Growler aircraft, and the head of naval aviation said this week that resolving the dangerous problem is his top safety priority.
     
  9. waltky

    waltky Well-Known Member

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    Similar to F-22 problem...
    [​IMG]
    F-35s Grounded at Luke AFB After Pilots Report Hypoxia-Like Symptoms
    9 Jun 2017 | The Air Force has grounded all F-35 Joint Strike Fighters at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, after pilots complained of hypoxia-related issues, officials said Friday.
     
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  10. APACHERAT

    APACHERAT Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Navy and Marine Corps are still struggling with oxygen system problems that have plagued the Navy’s carrier training aircraft and have clogged both services’ pipeline of new pilots, the commander of Naval Air Systems Command said during a Wednesday congressional hearing...

    Continue -> https://news.usni.org/2017/06/07/navy-marines-still-struggling-t-45-trainer-oxygen-system-failures

    U.S. Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Scott Swift will lead a 30-day review on “the facts, circumstances and processes surrounding the recent physiological episodes involving T-45 and F/A-18 aircrew,” the Navy announced today.

    Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Bill Moran directed Swift in an April 21 memo to look into the physiological episodes themselves and how the Navy has attempted to address them – an effort that dates back to a 2010 integrated project team that stood up at Naval Air Systems Command to carefully document and attempt to prevent PEs in the F-18 fleet.

    Swift will appoint members to the review team from across the Naval Aviation and Navy Medicine Enterprise and the engineering, legal and public affairs communities, according to the memo. Moran reiterates in the memo the Navy’s “unconstrained resource approach” to determining the cause of these events and preventing them going forward.

    Navy pilots have experienced an increase in two types of physiological episodes: hypoxia due to problems with the On Board Oxygen Generator System (OBOGS), in which pilots may receive either insufficient oxygen or contaminated oxygen, and decompression sickness due to a failure of the Environmental Control System that causes a drop in cabin pressure.

    The Navy had previously taken actions to address physiological episodes on the F/A-18A-D Hornets, F/A-18E-F Super Hornets and EA-18G Growlers. On March 31, though, the Navy canceled 94 T-45C Goshawk trainer jet flights due to concerns about the potential for PEs, and on April 5 Commander of Naval Air Forces Vice Adm. Mike Shoemaker announced an operational pause for the T-45s. That three-day pause turned into a 12-day pause, and when flights resumed last week the Navy had identified a temporary fix that would allow students to fly about 75 percent of the mission sets in their syllabus – but they cannot fly above 10,000 feet cabin pressure and cannot land on aircraft carriers until a permanent solution is identified...

    Continue -> https://news.usni.org/2017/04/24/navy-directs-30-day-review-physiological-episodes
     
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  11. waltky

    waltky Well-Known Member

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    Solution to F-22 hypoxia problem?...
    [​IMG]
    Air Force Tests New System to Monitor for Hypoxia Problems
    September 18, 2017 — The Air Force is testing a breathing and cockpit environment monitoring system developed by Cobham to provide data to address the continuing problem of pilots developing hypoxia-like symptoms.
     
  12. waltky

    waltky Well-Known Member

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    Pilots 'Not Making Things Up,' Air Force Says of 'Hypoxia' Incidents...

    Pilots 'Not Making Things Up,' Air Force Says of 'Hypoxia' Incident
    12 Jul 2018 - The Air Force has ruled out pilots' mistaking symptoms in hypoxia incidents
     
  13. waltky

    waltky Well-Known Member

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    Navy, Air Force Team Up to Get to Bottom of Oxygen Deprivation Among Pilots...
    [​IMG]
    Navy, Air Force Team Up to Get to Bottom of Oxygen Deprivation Among Pilots

    14 Sep 2018 -- The Navy and the Air Force are teaming up to get to the root cause of oxygen deprivation among its pilots, which officials have said is their biggest safety concern in aviation.
    See also:

    Air Force Announces Fix to Hypoxia Problems in T-6 Aircraft
    14 Sep 2018 - Air Force officials say they have identified a fix to problems in the T-6 Texan II trainer aircraft that were making pilots short of breath and resulted in a month-long fleet grounding in February.
     
    Last edited: Sep 14, 2018

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