F-22s back in the air after grounding - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

F-22s back in the air after grounding

F-22 Raptor air superiority fighters at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., returned to flight earlier today after a weeklong grounding.

“The 1st Fighter Wing has resumed flying operations at Langley AFB as of 0800 this morning,” said Air Combat Command spokesman Miles Brown.

Wing commander Col. Kevin Robbins had ordered the grounding on Oct. 20 after one of the unit’s pilots suffered from an in-flight incident with symptoms resembling hypoxia.

“I can confirm there was a physiological event that occurred Oct. 20. This event is currently being analyzed and it gave our local commander reason to briefly pause operations to provide the necessary safety resources to crews,” Monica Miller Rodgers, another Air Combat Command spokesman, said. “We are committed to protecting our fleet of F-22 Raptors and the pilots and maintainers who enable its combat capabilities.”

On Monday, 3rd Wing commander Col. Dirk Smith, who also had grounded his two squadrons of F-22s at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska following the incident at Langley, lifted a flight ban on his aircraft. The first Raptors took off at the Alaska base Monday morning.

F-22 pilots at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, flew their regular schedule throughout the grounding at Langley, as did aviators at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla.; Nellis AFB, Nevada; and Holloman AFB, New Mexico.

The “hypoxia-like” incident at Langley comes only a month after the Air Force’s Raptor fleet was cleared to resume flight operations last month after a 4½ month grounding. The stealthy fifth-generation fighter was originally grounded May 3 after about a dozen pilots suffered “hypoxia-like” symptoms.

The Air Force is still investigating the problem with the F-22’s oxygen system, but had cleared the aircraft to fly because service officials felt that the risk factors had been mitigated. However, the Air Force has not determined what is causing the problem with the jet’s oxygen systems.

“There is no conclusive cause or group of causes that has been established for the incidents that prompted the standdown earlier this year,” Air Combat Command spokesman Scott Knuteson said in an emailed statement. “We’ve therefore made the decision to resume operations while implementing improvements to the aircraft’s life support systems and carefully collecting and analyzing operational, maintenance and physiological data for all Raptor flights — more than 1,300 missions since the return to flight.”

However, as a condition to allowing flights to resume, Air Force leaders have enabled operational commanders to suspend operations as needed.

“Part of our protocol is to allow units to pause operations whenever they need to analyze information collected from flight operations to ensure safety,” Knuteson said. “That is what is happening at Langley at the moment, and we support that decision.”

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.

Nonetheless, numerous sources had voiced their misgiving about the return-to-flight arrangements.