by Travis J. Tritten | Jun 21, 2017, 2:45 PM
| Updated Jun 21, 2017, 6:51 PM
The Air Force now believes a rash of the incidents among
F-35 pilots at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona might have been caused by a
metering problem in the aircraft's oxygen system that occurs above 25,000 feet,
Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein said Wednesday.
Flight operations at Luke resumed Wednesday after an 11-day
grounding, but the Air Force is still investigating the oxygen systems with a
team of experts at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. The Navy is also
still investigating spikes in reported oxygen problems in its T-45 trainer jets
and F/A-18 Hornets.
The Air Force placed altitude restrictions on the
Luke F-35s and offered additional oxygen reserves and sensors as safety
precautions.
"All five of the incidents that we had in the F-35
all occurred above 25,000 feet and so what we think is going on is that the
metering system at a higher altitude may not be metering the oxygen at the
level that is absolutely required," Goldfein said. "That is what the
engineers are looking at."
He said the Air Force is working with F-35 maker Lockheed
Martin and is confident an engineering fix will be found.
The Navy's T-45 problems resulted in a pilot boycott and
a grounding of all student pilot flights at several training facilities across
the country.
The service released the results of a review last
week and pointed to the onboard oxygen generation system also used on the F-35
and a cockpit pressurization system as top suspects of the hypoxia-like
incidents, which can cause sickness and panic among pilots.
Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson told the Washington
Examiner that there is no definite timeline for making a permanent fix
to prevent oxygen deprivation incidents.
"It's until we get the right answer," she said.
"There's a lot of attention being placed on this."
Note: An earlier version
of this story reported that Goldfein said Defense Secretary Jim Mattis had
ordered a study of all tactical aircraft following the oxygen problems. The Air
Force later said Goldfein misspoke during an interview Wednesday morning and no
that Defense Department-wide study has been ordered.
Source: washingtonexaminer.com
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