Stealth Fighter Jet Flaw: Leon Panetta Restricts Flights Of F-22 Raptor That's Been Choking Pilots

Wired:

For five years, America’s most expensive fighter jets have been poisoning their pilots and crew. On Tuesday, the Defense Secretary finally stepped in — restricting the flights of the F-22 Raptor, and ordering the Air Force to begin an “expedited installation” of an automatic backup oxygen system for the entire fleet of Raptors, Pentagon spokesman George Little tells reporters. But Panetta is allowing the stealthy dogfighter to keep flying — for now.

Read the whole story at Wired

Comments

[Jondrea Smith]

02:28 PM on 05/16/2012

And THIS is a better expenditure than food stamps?

[pottedferne]

11:54 AM on 05/16/2012

I wondered why Richard Shelby has been noticeably quiet.........

[aonemandog]

11:19 AM on 05/16/2012

The F-22 is just one of a host of defense contractor "products" that have been oversold and under-deliver. The Navy's two LCS Class ship variants are both junkers. The FREEDOM, stationed in San Diego, could not pass Insurve because of a host of failures both mechanical and administrative. The INDEPENDENCE supposedly has major structural and severe corrosion problems. The small crews of these ships are overwhelmed because the automation that was supposed to be a key feature of these ships was removed because of the costs involved. When costs escalated, instead of asking for more money, they just removed equipment and systems to keep the costs low. And, when Lockheed raised a stink because their version was about to be de-selected in favor of the Austal version, the Navy allowed them to "adjust" their bids so that they could say that due to new estimates, they would be able to build both versions. A bald faced lie when you consider their inability to deliver the initial ships on budget and that, post delivery, two separate logistics programs will have to be maintained. These ships don't even have the interchangeable mission modules ready yet so they have no real mission. What a joke. Yet the Admirals keep saying what great ships they are; no doubt because they are hoping for post retirement careers with General Dynamics, Lockheed, Austel, Northrop Grumman and a host of other MIC contractors who have foisted these lemons off on the tax-paying public.

[onlyaquarterdelusional]

12:12 PM on 05/16/2012

That revolving door that should have been closed tight long ago is by far the most expensive door in history.

[Joseph Joyal]

11:10 AM on 05/16/2012

Talk to Lockheed Martin for a refund. or talk to me and find out how LMCO cuts corners over charges and covers up flaws.
There is no excuse for any error in that jet.

[yukonsam]

10:25 AM on 05/16/2012

America's Defense Industry: With friends like these, who needs enemies?

[Riyter]

10:21 AM on 05/16/2012

I wonder if Panetta and the boys in the Pentagon would enjoy being forced to drive an air-tight car that was blowing oil into the A/C vents and contaminating their air with toxens.I bet those cars would be put out of service immediately!

[ThinkCreeps]

04:35 PM on 05/22/2012

To be fair to the system, it's supposed to have been designed to be an all-singing-all-dancing, NBC system to keep the cold warrior safe in post-apocalyptic Europe.

It just turns out in fact that all that is now totally and utterly unnecessary.

[TXfemmom]

09:51 AM on 05/16/2012

The headline and the "choking" thing is asinine.  There isn't any choking involved other than the pilots were definitely seeing a state of hypoxia, and sometimes extreme hypoxia, develop due to lack of oxygen being delivered to them by their oxygen system.  Perhaps, "choking" is a military description they my use for it, but the pilots were experiencing the mental difficulties associated with hypoxia.  Their memory became foggy, they couldn't perform basic skills, and couldn't remember, at times, how to operate the planes.  Definitely not a good situation. 

These Raptor planes have cost five times what they were projected to cost, and despite being the most advanced planes in the world, have not flown a single military mission in the wars.

[Joseph Joyal]

11:14 AM on 05/16/2012

If a car operated that bad they wouild have force a recall long a go. Lockheed Martin has taken billions of tax payer dollars and provide sub pare product. They have a history of this going back many years.

[ThinkCreeps]

07:00 AM on 05/22/2012

OK, so you don't like `choking pilots'?

What about `suffocating',
`cutting off the air from',
`starving oxygen from'?

Would they be better descriptions for you?

[TXfemmom]

02:11 PM on 05/22/2012

Oxygen deprived is the proper description of what they were undergoing and it imperiled their lives and their ability to operate those tremendously expensive planes.

[The Dude67]

09:16 AM on 05/16/2012

And you say that there's danger
To this land you call your own
And you watch them build the war machines
Right beside your home
And you tell me that your ready
To go marching to the war
Oh I know you're set for fighting
But what are you fighting for?

Phil Ochs.

[Bubba Gump]

09:14 AM on 05/16/2012

Unfortunately, flaws in advanced designs do happen to complicated, pioneering machinery.  However, the most disturbing passage of this news is toward the end of this article, where one of the two pilots who stepped forward to bring this problem to light has received a letter of reprimand that will probably end his career.  Message:  shut up, even if it kills you and threatens the military readiness of the Air Force and the safety of the United States of America.  WRONG MESSAGE, Air Force.  Given how the military has repeatedly blown early warnings of problems in the ranks and outright outrageous coverups -- like the Fort Hood shooter, problems with no armor to protect American soldiers from IEDs, the Pat Tillman and Abu Ghraih scandals, and many other examples -- it's time to REWARD people who step forward when command refuses to listen and, instead, fix the command structure itself.

[LooseCaboose]

08:53 AM on 05/16/2012

I feel so much safer knowing these fighters can't even supply oxygen to their pilots. The Air Farce once again succeeds in making nothing for something. We need more money we don't have for defense. Take Grandma's food stamps and disabled children's support and poor it into the MIC.

[Riley Pacheco]

08:50 AM on 05/16/2012

My drill sergeant choked a few people in basic training. Where was Panetta on that one?

[Plasma002]

08:50 AM on 05/16/2012

Moderated? Really? Sheesh H P....

[captainpoco]

08:40 AM on 05/16/2012

$67billion and it isn't capable of supplying a steady stream of oxygen to it's pilot.

[Bubba Gump]

09:18 AM on 05/16/2012

Actually, the article suggested that the flow of oxygen might be fine.  Given that ground crews too had reported the same problem (and they weren't using the oxygen system), the idea of fuel contaminating the oxygen supply was offered as a plausible theory.

[KIVPossum]

09:21 AM on 05/16/2012

They don't cover the need for oxygen in aviation engineering class

[taurus58]

08:40 AM on 05/16/2012

But Panetta is allowing the stealthy dogfighter to keep flying — for now??

[rg9rts]

08:35 AM on 05/16/2012

What makes them sick? Did I miss something?

[CDRUSNret]

09:09 AM on 05/16/2012

hypoxia

[rg9rts]

01:26 PM on 05/16/2012

If you want the whole story go to Yahoo.