WASHINGTON (Reuters)-the air is close to figuring out what is causing some fighter pilots F-22 to dizziness and bewildered when they fly the most advanced U.S. military aircraft and could resume normal operations later this year, a top General said on Thursday.
Air force Maj. Gen. Charles Lyon said he was "cautiously optimistic" that an investigation had identified the main factors that cause the symptoms of oxygen deprivation among some pilots of the F-22, built by Lockheed Martin Corp.
These factors include the size of tubes carrying oxygen to the F-22 pilots, equipment and connectors between a pressure jacket that is intended to keep drivers safe at high altitudes, especially when worn with other heavy clothing.
Lyon, said the air force had almost ruled out the idea that some contaminant was enter the aircraft's oxygen system and in April had stopped requiring pilots to use a filter of chemical warfare after the realization that made it more difficult for them to breathe.
Said that there was still a possibility of further factors might come to light in the next month or so, and the air force would not rush to judgement.
The Pentagon last month announced new safety precautions for more advanced stealthy aircraft, U.S. military, including limits on how far you can fly from airstrips.
The air force continues to investigate the matter, but this week said pilots to stop wearing a vest potentially defective pressure that might contribute to the issue during the training and routine operations under 44,000 fee.
The Air Force stopped flying F-22 completely for five months last year, resumed flights in September. But the concern for the F-22 also flared this year after two F-22 pilots told "60 Minutes" program of CBS, who they had stopped flying the jet fighter because of concerns about security.
Two U.S. lawmakers Thursday, has released new figures showing that air force, F-22 pilots have been experiencing symptoms of oxygen deprivation or hypoxia, at a rate 10 times seen on other U.S. aircraft.
Lyon said the rate was too high, but also noted that there had not been any incidents reported since March 8, and the Air Force was always closer to resolving the issue.
"I expect that by the end of the summer we will have identified all important and significant contributors, and that a number of months after that we're going to return to normal operation," Lyon, a fighter pilot with more than 3,800 flying hours, told Reuters late on Thursday.
"But I don't want to oversell what we have learned. We know that it is significant. We is contributory, but we're not ready to say "we have found the" smoking gun. "
"PLANNING FOR CORRECTIONS"
Lyon said that he had informed the air force leaders, senior officers from the joint staff, Pentagon officials and lawmakers this week about the work of a joint task force military industry which has led since January.
He said the aircraft was already planning several Fixes to address the issue of deprivation of oxygen, including a redesign of the garment pressure and moves to extend the tubes carrying oxygen to the pilots in the cockpit, although the search continued.
He could not estimate the cost of redesigning equipment, but said he expected it to be too high since nobody expected corrections was a major engineering challenge, said Lyon.
The General, who serves as Director of operations for Air Combat Command, said the aircraft was evaluated the aircraft life support systems from one end to the other, finding some vulnerabilities in different places, mostly items that has reduced the flow of oxygen to the pilot.
Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, a Democrat and Adam Kinzinger representative, an Illinois Republican, said the air force data showed little more than 26 episodes of oxygen deprivation every 100,000 flight hours on the F-22, a rate they said it was "at least 10 times higher than any other US Air Force aircraft."
The data showed 0.7 incidents per 100,000 flight hours in which pilots have reported feeling dizzy or light-headed while flying A-10, and 2.34 accidents every 100,000 flight hours on the F-15E, built by Boeing Co. The model F-16 Block 50 incidents per 100,000 was 2.96-hour flight, said legislators.
"This information confirms that the F-22 program is not running at 100 percent and that the accident rates of oxygen deprivation are much higher than initially we were told," Kinzinger said in a press release, vowing to continue to press for details.
Warner said the security of air force pilots and flying communities should be the biggest concern.
"The F-22 program cost 80 billion dollars so far, but the most expensive fighter jet in the world is useless if we cannot guarantee the security of pilots who fly," he said.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal-Esa; Editing by Robert Birsel M.D. Golan)
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