Photo: These could be the only F-22 stealth planes not choking their pilots

May 16, 2012 Aircraft Carriers, Military Aviation
David Cenciotti

Just posted by U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet on their Flickr photostream, the following image shows the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) as it arrives at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam (JBPHH) for its final port visit in Hawaii before returning to its homeport in San Diego following a six-month WestPac (Western Pacific) and OEF (Operation Enduring Freedom) cruise.

Don’t blame me for the following comment, but as soon as I saw the photograph, I could not help but notice that those depicted in the photo could be the only F-22 stealth planes not choking their pilots.

Indeed, in spite of the recurrent hypoxia symptoms experienced by several Air Force pilots, some of whom have refused to fly the Raptor until the flaw continues, the Pentagon has not grounded the F-22 fleet, unlike the USAF that banned flight operations with the 5th generation fighter last year.

Lockheed Martin’s troubled plane will be only restricted to fly near a “proximate landing location” in order to give pilots the possibility to land quickly if their planes’ On Board Oxygen Generating System (OBOGS) fail.

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Dustin W. Sisco

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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.

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4 Comments

  1. I am staggered on how complicated it seems to be to find this fault (yeah I know that these planes are complex machines…still). Have you any information on how Lockheed and the Air Force are investigating the problem?

  2. That’s the POW/MIA memorial behind the Hickam Officers Club. I remember when they put it in. It’s a beautiful memorial. As for the F-22 oxygen problem, they have a new theory as to the cause, but they haven’t said what. Interestingly, ground crew have started to report problems as well. My personal theory is a bleed air leak, heating up the RAM and composites and they are giving off a gas of some sort.

  3. We get all carried away at how impressive the planes are, but really there is nothing like seeing an aircraft carrier being tugged up a river at close range to make us feel the armed forces in general are pretty darn impressive….
    Go USS Carl Vinson..

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