F-22 grounded again

RWatters · Oct 24, 2011

F-22 Raptor stealth fighters at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia have been grounded after a pilot experienced oxygen loss mid-flight. It’s the second stand-down this year for the U.S. military’s most sophisticated dogfighter, and a foreboding sign for the Pentagon as it struggles to modernize its aerial armada.

Problems with the on-board oxygen system have vexed the $150-million-a-copy F-22 for more than a year. On May 3, the Air Force locked down the entire Raptor fleet while it investigated reports of pilot blackouts and disorientation — problems that might have contributed to a fatal F-22 crash in Alaska in November.

Investigators suspected a design flaw in the Raptor’s oxygen generator that was allowing high levels of unbreathable nitrogen to leak into the pilot’s air supply. But they could never pin down the precise flaw, and last month the Air Force brass ordered the 170 F-22s — accounting for nearly half of the Pentagon’s air-superiority force — back into the air. “We now have enough insight from recent studies and investigations that a return to flight is prudent and appropriate,” said Gen. Norton Schwartz, the Air Force chief of staff.

As added insurance, Raptor squadrons installed an extra air filter on the radar-evading jets built by Lockheed Martin. But the filter appears not to have solved the problem, if the Virginia incident is any indication.

The Air Force is being cagey about the new grounding. “Part of our protocol is to allow units to pause operations whenever they need to analyze information collected from flight operations to ensure safety,” the flying branch said in a statement. “That is what is happening at Langley at the moment, and we support that decision.”

Considering the Raptor’s ongoing safety woes and continuing delays, cost overruns, maintenance woes and production cuts in the F-35 stealth fighter program, the Pentagon’s next-generation air arsenal is looking more and more like history’s most expensive hangar decoration. With many of the latest fighters unflyable, old-school F-15s and F-16s dating from the 1980s could be forced to hold the line for years to come.
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http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/10/stealth-fighters-grounded/

Here's to hoping they'll look a little harder for "the smoking gun" this time around. It didn't take very long at all for the problem to surface again. Quite the embarassment if you ask me.

Nurburgringer · Oct 24, 2011

Last week I met an F-16 pilot who served 3 tours in Iraq.

He was in favor of going back to good old liquid oxygen (LOX) systems.

http://www.shaw.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123019000

ironic that the switch was made to Onboard Oxygen Generating to:

“save money and reduce the man-hours needed to maintain (the oxygen system) while on deployments, temporary duty assignments or on home station,” said Capt. Justin Barry, 20th Maintenance Operations Squadron maintenance officer.

At least one pilot and F-22 lost due to OBOG failure, and surely 100s of millions being spent to fix the issues.

And where'd wired get their "$150M per F-22" number?
I've read in several places that it's closer to $400M per.

kylec · Oct 24, 2011

Nurburgringer said: ↑

And where'd wired get their "$150M per F-22" number?
I've read in several places that it's closer to $400M per.
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Oh no, here we go again... Some people quote the flyaway cost while others include the R&D cost (sunk cost)/ fleet size= totalish cost per copy. The last thread went on and on and on about it.

RWatters · Oct 28, 2011

That was quick!

WASHINGTON The US Air Force has allowed dozens of F-22 fighter jets back in the air after commanders briefly grounded the planes at two bases amid safety concerns, officials said Tuesday.

After a pilot suffered a lack of oxygen in the cockpit last week, senior officers at bases in Virginia and in Alaska ordered a "pause" in flights for the sophisticated F-22 Raptors, the world's most expensive combat aircraft.

At Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska, the temporary ban was lifted on Monday and the commander at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia ended the grounding on Tuesday.

"The 1st Fighter Wing has resumed flying operations at Langley AFB" at 8:00 am (1200 GMT), said Miles Brown, spokesman for the Virginia air force base.

Air Force engineers will continue to collect data from the F-22 flights to ensure safety, he added.

It was the second time this year that F-22 fighter jets were grounded.

The Air Force stood down the entire Raptor fleet from May through mid-September -- a highly unusual move -- to allow engineers to check for possible problems with the plane's oxygen supply.

The precise source of the problem remains a mystery despite elaborate tests and safety measures, analysts say.

The fleet was allowed back in the air last month without a clear explanation behind a spate of incidents in which pilots appeared to suffer from a lack of oxygen.

The Air Force has been reluctant to discuss the problem in any detail, particularly the circumstances of about a dozen incidents affecting F-22 pilots over a three-year period.

At a cost of nearly $150 million per plane, the F-22 Raptor is designed mainly for dogfights against rival fighter jets. The radar-evading aircraft were not used in the NATO-led air campaign over Libya.

The Air Force has more than 160 F-22 Raptors in its fleet and plans to build a total of 187.
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http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hlxZXWk0pSStxE35sJ06VKUrEPpA?docId=CNG.a6900525299af7b53800778f872e6beb.401

It doesn't sound like any updates were made and they haven't found anything. I wonder how the pilots feel about this?

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