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04-01-2012, 01:06 AM
USAF Panel: Create Medical Teams to Look at Raptor Pilots
Mar. 29, 2012 - 05:23PM |
By BRIAN EVERSTINE
A U.S. Air Force scientific advisory board is urging the service to create specialized medical teams to focus on pilots with hypoxia-like symptoms and form a medical registry for F-22 pilots exposed to cabin air or on-board oxygen gas.
The set of recommendations are a part of the board’s study, which did not determine a root cause for the oxygen problems plaguing the fifth-generation fighter. The findings and recommendations were announced Thursday, two days after a Raptor pilot made an emergency landing at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., because of hypoxia-like symptoms.
The advisory board study, which was directed by Air Force Secretary Michael Donley in June, found that the testing for the Raptor’s Life Support System and thermal management were insufficient, the F-22’s life support system does not automatically activate breathable air, and that contaminants have been measured in the breathing air.
The plane also has no mechanism to prevent the loss of the aircraft if a pilot is impaired and there is insufficient feedback to the pilot about the partial pressure of oxygen in the air. But the board could not identify what is causing the problems.
“I am convinced that there is a root cause,” said Maj. Gen. Charles Lyon, director of operations for Air Combat Command. “We will not rest until we find that root cause.”
Other recommendations the board made include installing an automatic backup oxygen supply, creating a simulation to assess life support and thermal management systems, adding a sensor to the life support system, and developing an automatic ground collision avoidance system.
Air Combat Command has been implementing these recommendations, in addition to other changes such as adding a filter to the oxygen system, a new handle to activate the on-board oxygen generating system and having pilots fly with a pulse oximeter to monitor oxygen intake.
ACC has also implemented a “911 call” approach to flying the F-22, urging pilots to immediately land if something is not right, Lyon said.
Despite the flaws that the advisory board found, officials maintain that the Raptor is safe to fly.
“[There’s] a set of recommendations to implement,” Lyon said. “It gives us the confidence that this aircraft is even safer than it has been in the past. And it has a terrific track record for safety.”
There have been physiological incidents in one per 10,000 sorties, said retired Gen. George Martin, the chairman of the study. With the recommendations being implemented, the pilots are not at an increased risk, he said.
“Pilots are at risk every time we strap an airplane on,” said Maj. Gen. Noel Jones, the director of operational capability requirements and deputy chief of staff for operations, plans and requirements. “… we are in full belief that the steps that are in place by Air Combat Command, the recommendations that Gen. Martin has come up with have given us a very safe airplane while we work to ultimately determine what the root cause is.”
The board agrees with an Air Force Accident Investigation Board report on the November 2010 crash in Alaska that killed Maj. Jeff Haney. The board said Haney did not react quickly enough to activate the plane’s emergency oxygen system or recover from a dive as he struggled to breathe.
Despite the board’s findings, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz told a congressional panel on March 6 that the service did not blame Haney for the crash.
“We did not assign blame to the pilot,” Schwartz said during a House Appropriations Defense subcommittee hearing. “… This was a complex contingency that he did his best to manage and, in the end, we lost aircraft control.”
Martin said that, despite Haney’s death, oxygen problems have not caused an F-22 crash.
“There have been none,” he said. “With respect to an oxygen failure system, there have been no crashes and no loss of life.”
The Pentagon Inspector General has launched an investigation into the Air Force’s report, and Haney’s widow, Anna Haney, has filed a lawsuit against the main contractors of the plane.
http://www.defensenews.com/article/20120329/DEFREG02/303290010/USAF-Panel-Create-Medical-Teams-Look-Raptor-Pilots?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE
Mar. 29, 2012 - 05:23PM |
By BRIAN EVERSTINE
A U.S. Air Force scientific advisory board is urging the service to create specialized medical teams to focus on pilots with hypoxia-like symptoms and form a medical registry for F-22 pilots exposed to cabin air or on-board oxygen gas.
The set of recommendations are a part of the board’s study, which did not determine a root cause for the oxygen problems plaguing the fifth-generation fighter. The findings and recommendations were announced Thursday, two days after a Raptor pilot made an emergency landing at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., because of hypoxia-like symptoms.
The advisory board study, which was directed by Air Force Secretary Michael Donley in June, found that the testing for the Raptor’s Life Support System and thermal management were insufficient, the F-22’s life support system does not automatically activate breathable air, and that contaminants have been measured in the breathing air.
The plane also has no mechanism to prevent the loss of the aircraft if a pilot is impaired and there is insufficient feedback to the pilot about the partial pressure of oxygen in the air. But the board could not identify what is causing the problems.
“I am convinced that there is a root cause,” said Maj. Gen. Charles Lyon, director of operations for Air Combat Command. “We will not rest until we find that root cause.”
Other recommendations the board made include installing an automatic backup oxygen supply, creating a simulation to assess life support and thermal management systems, adding a sensor to the life support system, and developing an automatic ground collision avoidance system.
Air Combat Command has been implementing these recommendations, in addition to other changes such as adding a filter to the oxygen system, a new handle to activate the on-board oxygen generating system and having pilots fly with a pulse oximeter to monitor oxygen intake.
ACC has also implemented a “911 call” approach to flying the F-22, urging pilots to immediately land if something is not right, Lyon said.
Despite the flaws that the advisory board found, officials maintain that the Raptor is safe to fly.
“[There’s] a set of recommendations to implement,” Lyon said. “It gives us the confidence that this aircraft is even safer than it has been in the past. And it has a terrific track record for safety.”
There have been physiological incidents in one per 10,000 sorties, said retired Gen. George Martin, the chairman of the study. With the recommendations being implemented, the pilots are not at an increased risk, he said.
“Pilots are at risk every time we strap an airplane on,” said Maj. Gen. Noel Jones, the director of operational capability requirements and deputy chief of staff for operations, plans and requirements. “… we are in full belief that the steps that are in place by Air Combat Command, the recommendations that Gen. Martin has come up with have given us a very safe airplane while we work to ultimately determine what the root cause is.”
The board agrees with an Air Force Accident Investigation Board report on the November 2010 crash in Alaska that killed Maj. Jeff Haney. The board said Haney did not react quickly enough to activate the plane’s emergency oxygen system or recover from a dive as he struggled to breathe.
Despite the board’s findings, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz told a congressional panel on March 6 that the service did not blame Haney for the crash.
“We did not assign blame to the pilot,” Schwartz said during a House Appropriations Defense subcommittee hearing. “… This was a complex contingency that he did his best to manage and, in the end, we lost aircraft control.”
Martin said that, despite Haney’s death, oxygen problems have not caused an F-22 crash.
“There have been none,” he said. “With respect to an oxygen failure system, there have been no crashes and no loss of life.”
The Pentagon Inspector General has launched an investigation into the Air Force’s report, and Haney’s widow, Anna Haney, has filed a lawsuit against the main contractors of the plane.
http://www.defensenews.com/article/20120329/DEFREG02/303290010/USAF-Panel-Create-Medical-Teams-Look-Raptor-Pilots?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE