USAF knew for over a decade...

ABC News rightly alerts us to the fact that the USAF knew about the oxygen flaw in the F-22 for over a decade that ended up killing the Alaska mishap pilot. USAF justification at the time was to save a buck.

Then USAF blames the pilot for the mishap.

Lack of honor times ten.

The document, written by a member of the Combined Test Force at California's Edwards Air Force Base in March 2000 and updated in 2002, described a problem with the design of the plane's Environmental Control System (ECS), which is charged with regulating several systems in the plane including the conditions in the cockpit. During certain specific high-altitude maneuvers, the ECS system would shut down and it was built so that if it failed, it would spark a cascade effect that would also cut off the pilot's primary oxygen supply.

Under the heading "Impact If Not Fixed," the test group member wrote, "Real-world failure of [the oxygen system] due to ECS shutdown is unacceptable. ECS failure and the subsequent loss of supplemental breathing oxygen may result in pilot debilitation or fatality due to either altitude hypoxia [oxygen deprivation] or decompression sickness in the event of cabin depressurization."

"Investigate and take corrective action," the 2000 document says. "Suggest repairing the ECS system so it will provide continuous, adequate service throughout the flight envelope. Suggest providing a reliable source of bleed air for [the oxygen system] in the event of ECS failure... [C]onsider addition of pilot breathing air plenum to fill gaps when [the oxygen system] is not operating, as during ECS shutdown."

Yet, ABC commits yellow journalism against the F-22 capability stating that it hasn't been used in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Gee, I guess we need to get rid of nuclear ballistic missile submarines.

Senator McCain also jumps in.

Dumb attitudes like that mean that America will lose air power deterrence in the Pacific and elsewhere.

ADF helicopter community reporting of flight safety events brought into question

Rarely do I comment on safety-of-flight issues as I have spent time supporting accident investigation teams and sometimes things are not always as they seem. However this caught my eye in today's The Australian in regard to an ADF CH-47 mishap in Afghanistan:

“There have been attempts, of course, to fix the system, but in fact the systematic failures within army aviation have continued.”

Wing Commander Jonas criticised the practice in Afghanistan of recording problems with the Chinook helicopter in an incident book without sending the problems up the chain of command and notifying superiors in Australia.

“There could have been amply qualified individuals in Australia ... that could have gone 'ping, there is a problem that needs addressing',” he said.

“What happened in Afghanistan, stayed in Afghanistan.

“The command chain needs to address this.”

DOD operational test office--delay F-35 training due to safety concerns

The DOD operational test office has recommended that it is too soon to start pilot training at Eglin Air Force Base due to safety issues with the program. A delay of 10 months is recommended until the results of flight test are more mature.

Doing pilot training too soon can cause problems because the trainees are not rated test pilots. This can cause serious problems if the F-35 is indeed under-tested because of an attempt to rush things through the system so vendors can get their performance bonus.

The F-16 suffered a similar problem when it was rushed into service; including poor documentation of aircraft performance. This resulted in a test-pilot-by-any-other-name problem which ended up getting some people killed.

UPDATE: F-22s at Langley grounded after in-flight oxygen event

Story here.

I remember a time when the USAF had a solid base of science and engineering experts.

No more.

UPDATE: Air Force Times has more information on this story.

One precaution the service took when returning the jets to service was to add carbon filters to the pilot’s oxygen supply, one source said. Additionally, pilots were required to give blood samples to use as a baseline to measure against in case of future incidents and are now required to wear a device called a pulse oximeter. The device is supposed to alert the pilot if there is a physiological problem.

However, numerous sources had voiced their misgivings about the return to flight arrangements.