The US Air Force's 56th Fighter Wing at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona today cancelled "local flying operations" for F-35A fighters after five incidents in which pilots "experienced hypoxia-like symptoms," an Air Force spokesperson said in a statement. Hypoxia is a deficiency in oxygen reaching the body through the circulatory system.
"In order to synchronize operations and maintenance efforts toward safe flying operations we have cancelled local F-35A flying," said 56th Fighter Wing commander Brigadier General Brook Leonard. "The Air Force takes these physiological incidents seriously, and our focus is on the safety and well-being of our pilots. We are taking the necessary steps to find the root cause of these incidents."
The cancellation of F-35A operations is currently restricted to Luke Air Force Base, the primary pilot training base for the F-35A. The Air Force also trains F-35A pilots at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. The 56th Fighter Wing's squadrons at Luke train pilots from the US Air Force as well as from other nations buying the F-35A, including Norway, Italy, and Australia. All the pilots training at Luke will be briefed on the incidents and on the procedures the pilots affected used to successfully restore oxygen and land the aircraft safely, a 56th Fighter Wing spokesperson said. The 56th's Air Operations Group will also hold a forum with pilots to discuss their concerns.
Source: ArsTechnica
According to Wikipedia:
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole fighters. The fifth-generation combat aircraft is designed to perform ground attack and air defense missions. It has three main models: the F-35A conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) variant, the F-35B short take-off and vertical-landing (STOVL) variant, and the F-35C carrier-based Catapult Assisted Take-Off Barrier Arrested Recovery (CATOBAR) variant. On 31 July 2015, the United States Marines declared ready for deployment the first squadron of F-35B fighters after intensive testing. On 2 August 2016, the U.S. Air Force declared its first squadron of F-35A fighters combat-ready.
The F-35 development program has been plagued with cost overruns and delays. Current estimated costs per unit vary from $95m for the F35-A to $120m for the F35-B and F35-C.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Snotnose on Tuesday June 13 2017, @12:15AM (2 children)
From 3-4 years ago? Pilots passing out due to lack of O2 is the first F35 failure I remember reading about.
I understand it's new, and new things take a while to debug. But Jeebus Christo, if you can't feed oxygen to the pilot you've failed Building Fighter Jets 101.
/ oh, you can't shoot the gun? shoot
// oh, rain dissolves the radar avoiding skin? dang
/// oh, it costs so much per plane no sane person in charge is going to put one in harms way? This friends is a real problem.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 13 2017, @01:27AM (1 child)
That was F22, and it ground the whole fleet of them.
(Score: 2) by sgleysti on Tuesday June 13 2017, @01:59AM
I googled up some relevant articles
https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/f-22-grounding-continues-as-oxygen-safety-probe-wide-358103/ [flightglobal.com]
http://www.airforce-technology.com/news/newsroot-cause-f22-raptor-hypoxia-identified-usaf [airforce-technology.com]
https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/dotmil/2012/05/25/lockheed-f-35-oxygen-system-very-different-than-troubled-sibling [usnews.com]
Oxygen problems also appear to be affecting the F-18
http://breakingdefense.com/2016/02/oxygen-problems-afflict-297-navy-marine-hornets/ [breakingdefense.com]