Posted on 04/15/2017 10:59:53 PM PDT by topher
The U.S. Navy will allow nearly 200 T-45C aircraft to resume flights Monday under modified conditions while it determines what is causing a lack of oxygen in some cockpits.
Vice Adm. Mike Shoemaker said Saturday instructor pilots will conduct warm-up flights and then will report back to the remaining pilots and students in their squadrons about the use of the modified equipment. All instructor pilots will complete warmup flights and student pilots will conduct training flights as the week goes on.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Key modification is to keep the jets under 10,000 feet and have modified oxygen equipment.
I blame DINGBAT Obama for this mess.
With the US having flareups in the Middle East and Asia, our pilots have to stay combat ready.
Article states that two jets will be taken apart to find the source of the problem.
Clearly DINGBAT Obama ignored this problem as the article states that the problem has been going on for 5 years.
Maybe DINGBAT Obama will move to his home country and Kenya and put his presidential library there. The only problem would be for the Secret Service.
.....my first thought.....keeping the best,the best.
Since the problem is only on some not all jets, my thinker tells me that maintenance may not have been properly done
So which of the 197 jets are safe to fly? And how do you know this?
Why take a chance on this happening and the jet crashing into a US city, killing a number of people?
“The only problem would be for the Secret Service.”
Huh. How would the Secret Service NOT going to Kenya pose a problem for them?
I’d be looking at the system from a moisture creation/intrusion problem that freezes at altitude temperatures Systems driers, regulation, evacuation, stuff like that. Might be hard to find.
I recall F-22s had oxygen problems for a while in 2014.
I guess they fixed them.
Was eventually traced back to some assembly workers at the blade lamination factory at brake time who would sometimes clean their finger nails with solvent
...the solvent vapor would stay with them and was the cause of the blade fail.
So they need to go back to the manufacturing and assembly records of all components in the oxygen systems.
I think the Raptor issue was isolated to the gear worn by the pilots. This T-45 problem is in the OBOGs system. Much more complex fix. OBOGS has been a problem since they started putting on the aircraft. For the T-45 that was the early 90’s. The Navy has lost aircraft and crews to OBOGS malfunctions in the past, but the incidents are skyrocketing.
the T45 was chosen ,by Slick Willie, as a favor to his favorite Brit. So the British designed Goshawk, not designed for carrier landings, would be modified and strengthened to withstand both carrier arrests, and catapult take offs. The strengthening resulted in more weight, which then required engine enhancements. Which then resulted in more frame mods.
That the Navy then struck the TA4J Skyhawk and later the T2C Buckeye, without a backup plan has been seemingly without incident, up until now. The T2C was the only trainer that could be used to train for inverted spin, but students naval aviators are lectured on how to respond to a spin now. The next generation of flight trainers that are capable to land on carriers is still years away.
I think the real problem is the technology behind OBOGS. There have been hypoxia incidents with the F-22, F/A-18, and the T-45, all using OBOGS.
We can blame Obozo for a lot of things, but this isn’t one of them.
Do you have a link?
Helo type?
I would think they would have this oxygen problem solved back in the 1940’s when high flying planes became the norm.
Maybe they need to stop reinventing. Look at the troubles the car companies get into like changing the ignition key.
I don't recall any other info....It was many years ago.
when ISO9000 quality systems were introduced to USA
I was involved in ISO9000 auditing and it came up as an example of root cause analysis.
Got a bit more information on that dated last May:
Nothing scares Hornet pilots more than losing oxygen — and it happens all the time
By: Meghann Myers, May 8, 2016
So the system has wide use (F-22, T-45, Growler, Hornet + ?), it’s had problems since ‘09 and the brass has chosen to talk their way around the deal while aircrew who survive inflight failures of the system seem afraid to down the bogus crap because it might put a black mark on their career.
Have I got that about right?
W
T
F
I know a guy that died in an OBOGS jet from a hypoxia episode (based upon ATC tapes). I’ve had several other friends survive close encounters with OBOGS poisoning. It has been a leading safety concern for a while. That being said there is nothing to stop a pilot from grounding a jet for any reason.
THanks. I flew CH-53D helos which had metal spar rotor blades. Those could kill you very quickly if a crack was not caught in time.
Yes sir, I know that. As well as the Unwritten Rule that made us all a tad wary of complaints that might be deemed inappropriate by someone up the chain as appears to me to be in effect here....
Okay, so I'm Old School Navair Training (plus spending a few years designing/testing aircraft), but I do believe I'd have the original contractor(s) on that system as well as the aircraft flying it on an extremely hot seat with assignment to fix the problem.
...by sometime last week.
This is just not acceptable.
My experience with OBOGS is limited to about 10 hours of T-45 time, post winging, during the OPEVAL. It had some quirks, but nobody was concerned about delivery of poisonous air at that time. We were more concerned with the sensitive nosewheel steering and poor spool up time on the engines. Both of those have killed people, despite being identified through every part of the acceptance process.
Sounds like I got out of Aerospace at the right time.
I wouldn’t sign off on anything that I wouldn’t strap on and fly myself (courtesy of the training I got at the hands of my Dad and a Battle of Midway vet we had for Leading Chief) but after seeing the very same lawyers and politicians who’d just finished their World Class CF in ‘Nam issuing specifications and “recommending” vendors/systems for the stuff we were building (or trying to build) during the Carter years....
Sometimes I feel like turning in my old uniforms and sending my apologies to people like you. Really should have fought these bastards back when this crap first began.
...but we didn’t.
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