An in-flight incident last week involving an F-22 "Raptor" from joint-base Pearl Harbor Hickam has two Congressmen upset.
Last Friday the F-22's pilot was forced to declare an in-flight oxygen deprivation emergency known as hypoxia.
Two weeks before that, a Virginia-based F-22 pilot apparently suffered a similar emergency.
Senator Mark Warner of Virginia and Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois are demanding answers from the Pentagon and sent a letter wanting to know if the Air Force has been able to determine if it's a problem with the pilot flight suits or the onboard oxygen generation system.
Hypoxia incidents happen in the F-22 at a rate nearly 10 times more than any other fighter jet in the U.S. Air Force.
Those incidents led to a complete grounding of the "Raptor" fleet in May of last year.
In a statement on his website, Senator Warner said "I have concerns about the Air Force's ability to get to the bottom of this."
http://www.warner.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2012/7/two-more-f-22-oxygen-incidents
Last Friday the F-22's pilot was forced to declare an in-flight oxygen deprivation emergency known as hypoxia.
Two weeks before that, a Virginia-based F-22 pilot apparently suffered a similar emergency.
Senator Mark Warner of Virginia and Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois are demanding answers from the Pentagon and sent a letter wanting to know if the Air Force has been able to determine if it's a problem with the pilot flight suits or the onboard oxygen generation system.
Hypoxia incidents happen in the F-22 at a rate nearly 10 times more than any other fighter jet in the U.S. Air Force.
Those incidents led to a complete grounding of the "Raptor" fleet in May of last year.
In a statement on his website, Senator Warner said "I have concerns about the Air Force's ability to get to the bottom of this."
http://www.warner.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2012/7/two-more-f-22-oxygen-incidents
Commentary: The incidents with the F-22's are of great concern, however, I wonder whether any of this could possibly be related to military down sizing that has been taking place in recent months. When the military is down sized to the point where proper maintenance of equipment can't be maintained at high levels of efficiency, can you really upon a skeleton crew to maintain equipment properly? I've been a strong supporter of the military since serving myself years ago, it pains me to see such downsizing at a time where that decision could prove detrimental to the proper security of the United States of America.
I sure hope the next president builds up the military to where the citizens can actually be protected if needed, should another event like what happened on 9-11-01 ever occur again. This president genuinely doesn't respect the military, it clearly shows with the reactions I've heard from current military members. A president should always respect the members of the military regardless of his political beliefs.
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