Posted on 05/11/2012 10:53:04 AM PDT by JerseyanExile
Fresh on the heels of yesterday’s announcement by the Air Force that it thinks the hypoxia-like symptoms suffered by F-22 Raptor pilots may be caused by the jets high-altitude performance, reports are emerging that ground crew are also suffering from similar ailments when they stand near the jet while it’s engines are running. Interesting.
At least five ground maintainers complained of illness between September and December, Air Combat Command spokesman Lt. Col. Tadd Sholtis said in an Air Force Times article that hit the newsstands Monday. The maintainers grew sick after breathing in ambient air during ground engine runs, a congressional aide told Air Force Times.
I imagine that the service is looking at the rates of sickness for ground crew of other jets to make sure that the Raptor maintainers are actually suffering from something unique to the stealth jet. If they are, it seems to indicate that the problem is indeed related to contaminates emanating from the plane rather than a lack of oxygen getting to the pilots during flight. Just yesterday, one of the Air Force’s top acquisitions officials, Lt. Gen. Janet Wolfenbarger told Senators that the service suspects that the F-22’s On-Board Oxygen Generating Systems (OBOGS) are either feeding the pilots contaminated air or aren’t giving them enough air to breath. She added that the problem may be related to the extreme altitudes that Raptors routinely execute high-G maneuvers in. Needless to say, this latest news puts an interesting twist on that claim.
Apparently, F-22 ground crew have been issued canisters designed to take air samples whenever they feel the onset of hypoxia.
Yep the F-22 yet ANOTHER GREAT Lockheed Martin Product, the USAF should have went w/ the F-23:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_YF-23
Too good to let go to waste.
“At least five ground maintainers complained of illness between September and December, Air Combat Command spokesman Lt. Col. Tadd Sholtis said in an Air Force Times article that hit the newsstands Monday. The maintainers grew sick after breathing in ambient air during ground engine runs, a congressional aide told Air Force Times.”
Considering the source this sounds incredibly fabricated to me.
To be honest I do not see how this could be an engine issue...
But we could have a secret stealth fuel additive that they are not talking about that could be the real issue
In any jet exhaust you would have thing that would compromise stealth...smoke, heat, contrails...the left over exhaust gasses themself...all leave a trail to follow
These are all emission you would want to suppress in a "stealth" aircraft...
And that could be with a fuel additive and that could leave some poisonous exhaust gasses
More likely that some of the secret radar absorbing coating material is being heated by the engine and out gassing.
The Hypoxia-Like symptoms are just that - symptoms. They are probably actually suffering some type allergic reaction. It will be interesting to see if rashes are next.
see what happens when you use Alien Technology LOL
Just make it an open cockpit and limit them to flying below 10K .. and mach 2 ..
These are ‘cutting edge’ craft .. highly technical .. shame to see it go to waste ..
I agree with this. The SR-71 had a cesium additive in its jet fuel to reduce the heat signature of the aircraft. We could be seeing the same situation. Note that Blackbird pilots never got sick since their life support systems were LOx and they flew with zero-G suits.
If this is the same case, the OBOGS should be scrapped on the Raptor. The flight suits should be changed to something very similar to the zero-G, and life support systems should be replaced with the tried and true LOx. Though it is more maintenance to refill these bottles, it is incredibly more efficient than the OBOGS. However, the aircraft’s range may be limited since only so much oxygen can be provided.
If you notice, these issues were arising since the crash near Edwards. The Raptor was already flying in 2005 and no life support problems were ever reported (covered up), rather avionics issues were exposed and corrected promptly.
With the announcement of Increment 3.3 in the future, F-22s will be upgraded to use the JHMCS for off-boresight AIM-9X capabilities. There are further upgrades planned on the Raptor and its electronics suite to further surpass every other aircraft in existence. I sincerely hope that if Lockheed and USAF work at converting Raptors to the old school LOx system, they consider changing the flight suits to something that will make efficient use of a zero-G setup comingled with the advanced avionics & weapon system upgrades.
I agree with this. The SR-71 had a cesium additive in its jet fuel to reduce the heat signature of the aircraft. We could be seeing the same situation. Note that Blackbird pilots never got sick since their life support systems were LOx and they flew with zero-G suits.
If this is the same case, the OBOGS should be scrapped on the Raptor. The flight suits should be changed to something very similar to the zero-G, and life support systems should be replaced with the tried and true LOx. Though it is more maintenance to refill these bottles, it is incredibly more efficient than the OBOGS. However, the aircraft’s range may be limited since only so much oxygen can be provided.
If you notice, these issues were arising since the crash near Edwards. The Raptor was already flying in 2005 and no life support problems were ever reported (covered up), rather avionics issues were exposed and corrected promptly.
With the announcement of Increment 3.3 in the future, F-22s will be upgraded to use the JHMCS for off-boresight AIM-9X capabilities. There are further upgrades planned on the Raptor and its electronics suite to further surpass every other aircraft in existence. I sincerely hope that if Lockheed and USAF work at converting Raptors to the old school LOx system, they consider changing the flight suits to something that will make efficient use of a zero-G setup comingled with the advanced avionics & weapon system upgrades.
It probably would have used the same oxygen generation system.
Do people normally pass out from a rash?
Not only heating, but the lowered atmospheric pressure at altitude would contribute to outgassing.
Hear, hear, from another YF-23 fan!!!
I like the YF-23 also. If I had my way, the F-22 would be the fighter and the YF-23 would be the attack aircraft to replace the F-117. Yes the F-35 would still exist though as a multi-role aircraft.
An all stealth Air Force; now that would be awesome and deadly.
This is better coverage of the topic - and more recent also from “Aviation Week and Space technology”
http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.aspx?id=/article-xml/AW_05_07_2012_p31-454218.xml
Summary - They are now looking for other sources than air contaminants since the filters mentioned in the original poster’s article didn’t have anything glaring show up.
Handling and Working with the various “stealth” materials has produced a long list of human side effects, including shortness of breath, unconsciousness, rashes, internal problems, etc. etc. etc. If a rash shows up, it’s almost certain that any other problems are also being caused by exposure to stealth materials.
Could be that the ground crew is working in a constant 1 G environment. I think we need the Government to step in with some rules to help with this.
If true it’s most likely low frequency vibration from the engine/accessories, not out gassing.
BTW.. What is a “ZERO-G Suit”???
I know of G- Suits, but nothing is going to create “Zero G” with a mere garment.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.