House demands investigation F-35 pilot breathing problems

[tbarlow]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/house-panel- ... 48480.html

Defense News
House panel demands another investigation into F-35 pilot breathing system problems

Valerie Insinna
Mon, August 2, 2021, 3:41 PM
WASHINGTON — A subpanel of the House Armed Services Committee wants the Pentagon to take a second look at the F-35 jet’s pilot breathing systems, which may be contributing to physiological episodes where pilots reported oxygen deprivation.

Last week, the Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee released its portion of the fiscal 2022 defense policy bill, which contained a provision requiring the Defense Department to investigate and implement corrective actions for the F-35′s pilot breathing system.

Although the FY21 version of the National Defense Authorization Act required the Pentagon to assess the root causes of physiological episodes occurring inside the Lockheed Martin-made aircraft, a report by NASA published in November 2020 has raised further concerns that the F-35′s breathing systems may not meet pilot needs, said a congressional aide who spoke with reporters July 28.

“They had some pretty concerning findings,” the aide said.

The NASA study — which used interviews with pilots and data from two F-35s during ground tests —found the Joint Strike Fighter does not continually supply the amount of oxygen needed by pilots, forcing operators to change their breathing rates to compensate.

“Pilots who have suffered [physiological episodes] in the F-35 … fault the breathing system for acute and chronic health conditions that have caused impairment for days, weeks, months, or longer,” the study stated.

By mandating a more comprehensive evaluation, the committee hopes to quickly correct technical problems before the services are locked into conducting expensive retrofits for a huge portion of their fighter inventory.

“Unfortunately it’s taken Congress to get the department to look at those issues and take action,” the aide said.

“We want to make sure that instead of the pilot having to adapt to the jet, the jet needs to make sure that it complies with the military specifications required for pilot breathing systems,” the aide added. “The pilot shouldn’t have to think about breathing in the airplane. It should just come naturally so that they can focus on the tactical employment.”

F-35 physiological episodes first came to the forefront in 2017, when the 56th Fighter Wing at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, grounded its F-35A conventional-takeoff-and-landing aircraft for several weeks. At the time, multiple pilots reported experiencing the symptoms of hypoxia, or oxygen deprivation.

After studying the issue, the F-35 Joint Program Office announced that it would make software changes to the onboard oxygen-generation system, which is produced by Honeywell. JPO officials believed that by amending the amount of oxygen delivered to pilots at altitude, it could lower the number of physiological episodes experienced by pilots.

More than 40 physiological episodes have been reported by F-35 pilots, the committee aide said.

Air Force Magazine reported that 27 of those incidents have occurred in U.S. Air Force F-35As, including one F-35A crash in May 2020 where the “work of breathing” may have adversely impacted the pilot’s cognitive functions, according to the accident investigation.

The number of physiological events in the F-35A has trickled downward since FY17, when there was a spike of nine incidents, according to Air Force Magazine. The Air Force logged four episodes in FY18, three in FY19 and five in FY20.

It’s unclear whether the subcommittee’s mandate for further study into F-35 physiological incidents will ultimately make it into the final version of the NDAA.

HASC is set to mark up its proposed legislation on Sept. 1. Once approved by the full committee, HASC members and their counterparts in the Senate will begin work on a compromise version of the bill.

[Corsair1963]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/house-panel-demands-another-investigation-202348480.html

Defense News
House panel demands another investigation into F-35 pilot breathing system problems

Valerie Insinna
Mon, August 2, 2021, 3:41 PM
WASHINGTON — A subpanel of the House Armed Services Committee wants the Pentagon to take a second look at the F-35 jet’s pilot breathing systems, which may be contributing to physiological episodes where pilots reported oxygen deprivation.

Last week, the Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee released its portion of the fiscal 2022 defense policy bill, which contained a provision requiring the Defense Department to investigate and implement corrective actions for the F-35′s pilot breathing system.

Although the FY21 version of the National Defense Authorization Act required the Pentagon to assess the root causes of physiological episodes occurring inside the Lockheed Martin-made aircraft, a report by NASA published in November 2020 has raised further concerns that the F-35′s breathing systems may not meet pilot needs, said a congressional aide who spoke with reporters July 28.

“They had some pretty concerning findings,” the aide said.

The NASA study — which used interviews with pilots and data from two F-35s during ground tests —found the Joint Strike Fighter does not continually supply the amount of oxygen needed by pilots, forcing operators to change their breathing rates to compensate.

“Pilots who have suffered [physiological episodes] in the F-35 … fault the breathing system for acute and chronic health conditions that have caused impairment for days, weeks, months, or longer,” the study stated.

By mandating a more comprehensive evaluation, the committee hopes to quickly correct technical problems before the services are locked into conducting expensive retrofits for a huge portion of their fighter inventory.

“Unfortunately it’s taken Congress to get the department to look at those issues and take action,” the aide said.

“We want to make sure that instead of the pilot having to adapt to the jet, the jet needs to make sure that it complies with the military specifications required for pilot breathing systems,” the aide added. “The pilot shouldn’t have to think about breathing in the airplane. It should just come naturally so that they can focus on the tactical employment.”

F-35 physiological episodes first came to the forefront in 2017, when the 56th Fighter Wing at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, grounded its F-35A conventional-takeoff-and-landing aircraft for several weeks. At the time, multiple pilots reported experiencing the symptoms of hypoxia, or oxygen deprivation.

After studying the issue, the F-35 Joint Program Office announced that it would make software changes to the onboard oxygen-generation system, which is produced by Honeywell. JPO officials believed that by amending the amount of oxygen delivered to pilots at altitude, it could lower the number of physiological episodes experienced by pilots.

More than 40 physiological episodes have been reported by F-35 pilots, the committee aide said.

Air Force Magazine reported that 27 of those incidents have occurred in U.S. Air Force F-35As, including one F-35A crash in May 2020 where the “work of breathing” may have adversely impacted the pilot’s cognitive functions, according to the accident investigation.

The number of physiological events in the F-35A has trickled downward since FY17, when there was a spike of nine incidents, according to Air Force Magazine. The Air Force logged four episodes in FY18, three in FY19 and five in FY20.

It’s unclear whether the subcommittee’s mandate for further study into F-35 physiological incidents will ultimately make it into the final version of the NDAA.

HASC is set to mark up its proposed legislation on Sept. 1. Once approved by the full committee, HASC members and their counterparts in the Senate will begin work on a compromise version of the bill.

Consider the source.......(i.e. Valerie Insinna - Defense News)

[Gums]

Salute!

I caution folks once again to refrain from duplicating in its entirety a previous post versus extracting relevant phases or references or....

I kept looking for a contribution in the previous post but only found a complaint about the Defense News author.

'nuf caution...
=====================================

I flew with a constant over pressure system in the VooDoo, but seemed 98% of us got used to having to force air out and simply relax to fill up, heh heh. Worse part was it was 100% oxygen and we had delayed ear blocks hours later. Our bloodstream had been saturated, and then the O2 was replaced by nitrogen and we soon learned to valsalva in our sleep after flying a night mission.

I also question the OBOGS implementation. Seems there have also been complaints in our closeby Navy training base and at one point the CO grounded the fleet.

Of course, we could simply revert to the systems USAF used for 70 years without many complaints, huh?

Gums sends...

[spazsinbad]

I'm still in slow internet land here but I'll try to post this: AN AIDE said above: "...“The pilot shouldn’t have to think about breathing in the airplane...." YES HE BLOODY DOES and this is part of the pilots aviation medical training & experience. No one breathes like we do sitting in a chair at sea level pounding a keyboard. To fly a military fighter you don special flying clothing & equipment and plug into the aircraft and you BREATH IN/OUT not like the clown aide above who has NO CLUE.

search.php?keywords=oxygen&terms=all&author=&fid%5B%5D=65&sc=1&sf=all&sr=posts&sk=t&sd=d&st=0&ch=-1&t=0&submit=Search

'Gums' Apologies MISSED your post in this BATTLE to post this response which takes FOREVER even then it DOANwerk.

[Corsair1963]

Salute!

I caution folks once again to refrain from duplicating in its entirety a previous post versus extracting relevant phases or references or....

I kept looking for a contribution in the previous post but only found a complaint about the Defense News author.

'nuf caution...
=====================================

I flew with a constant over pressure system in the VooDoo, but seemed 98% of us got used to having to force air out and simply relax to fill up, heh heh. Worse part was it was 100% oxygen and we had delayed ear blocks hours later. Our bloodstream had been saturated, and then the O2 was replaced by nitrogen and we soon learned to valsalva in our sleep after flying a night mission.

I also question the OBOGS implementation. Seems there have also been complaints in our closeby Navy training base and at one point the CO grounded the fleet.

Of course, we could simply revert to the systems USAF used for 70 years without many complaints, huh?

Gums sends...

Sorry, my mistake......

[steve2267]

Corsair, dude... don't you get what Gums said? You did it again -- you quoted Gum's entire post just to say "sorry."

Gums buys his internet by the byte. Give the guy some respect.

[optimist]

Here is the NASA report
https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/file ... final-.pdf
The available data, though limited, does not support that the F-35 breathing system protects the pilot from adverse effects. Additional ground and in-flight measurements of F-35 life support system performance is a key recommendation.

[spazsinbad]

The 100% OXYGEN under pressure was also used by most A-4s (the Kiwis replaced theirs with a mixture system using cabin air also to minimise the VALSALVA Maneuver described by 'Gums' above). The night landing crash of an F-35A had numerous niggly bits that supposedly hampered the pilot (apparently a very senior USAF pilot unnamed) who basically did not monitor ONCE his IAS during the approach, thus landing TOO FAST causing all kinds of mayhem. Also the aircraft was an old UNupDated LRIP model having issues with night vision which distracted the pilot who did not have the sense to 'go around again with plenty of fuel to do so' to figure out the issues without trying to land at the same time. <sigh> Maybe the seat was not comfortable also. Anyway I have downloaded TWO INCOMPREHENSIBLE (to me) PDFs from NASA about their 'oxygen investigation' where the F-35 has minimal input. I note NASA tested F-35As ON THE GROUND. Good one NASA.

[addition: I take back my negative comment about the 'minimal F35 input on the ground' - BAD HAIR DAY (slow net)]

HA! As I typed this optimist posted.... NOW for 519 pages of NASA stuff VOL. one:
NASA Engineering and Safety Center Technical Assessment Report Volume I Pilot Breathing Assessment
November 19, 2020 : https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/file ... final-.pdf (36Mb)

19 Nov 2021 VOLUME TWO 260 pages: https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/file ... final-.pdf (9.7Mb)

130 F-35 relevant pages from VOLUME II attached below.... [NOTE: 'stevieWunda' posted good stuff whilst I was typing]

NOW attached are SEVEN pages from the ABSTRACT/INFO (includes F-35) from beginning of VOLUME ONE of NASAdacca.

[steve2267]

Original story by Valerie here:

House panel demands another investigation into F-35 pilot breathing system problems
by Valerie Insinna 17 hours ago [!!!? why can't they put the date for posterity?]

[blah blah blah]

More than 40 physiological episodes have been reported by F-35 pilots, the committee aide said.

Air Force Magazine reported that 27 of those incidents have occurred in U.S. Air Force F-35As, including one F-35A crash in May 2020 where the “work of breathing” may have adversely impacted the pilot’s cognitive functions, according to the accident investigation.

The number of physiological events in the F-35A has trickled downward since FY17, when there was a spike of nine incidents, according to Air Force Magazine. The Air Force logged four episodes in FY18, three in FY19 and five in FY20.

[more blah blah -- read it at the source]

https://www.defensenews.com/air/2021/08/02/house-panel-demands-another-investigation-into-f-35-pilot-breathing-system-problems/

Airforce Mag article referenced is here: The Forensics of Flight Emergencies. This article actually appears worthy of one's time to read. Not that breathless (crap) pushed by the defense blogging cabal pretending to be journalists. If they were real journalists, they would do more research, and post more relevant data such as this infographic from the Airforce Mag article:

Obviously those danged pilots need to breathe. I don't, however, have a sense for the seriousness or urgency of this issue. Defense / aero journos these days seem to go onto the latest hot topic when a service or manufacturer resolves the problem. Do they announce the issue has been solved? No. They just go bark at something else. I note the relative absence of barking the past year or two -- since this was a "hot" topic of breathless reporting (pun acknowledged.) My sense is that LM and its subs and the F-35 JPO got the issue under control in terms of understanding it and making the required changes. I also sense the Dems in the Congress are moving goalposts yet again since their CPFH / CPTPY pretty much got slapped down.

Most concerning in the above graphic is the rate of physiological incidents per 100,000 flight hours. I note the F-35A and T-6A are both leading the pack on those rates. Are they the only OBOGS equipped systems? (I thought F-22 had OBOGS too?)

[spazsinbad]

IF ONE uses the 'oxygen' search string for this forum above then ONE may see lots of information which I have no chance to replicate by typing here. An old USNI news report has info on the issues including the F-22 OBOGalogs:

"...In 2012, the House Armed Services Committee held a hearing to evaluate the results of the Air Force’s investigation. Ultimately, the Air Force found that the F-22 issues were not due to the supply of oxygen. Instead, a combination of factors was cited—most notably, that a valve controlling the pilot’s pressure vest could allow the vest to inflate unnecessarily, which physically restricted the pilot’s ability to breathe...." 28 Jun 2017
https://news.usni.org/2017/06/28/report ... gen-issues

[spazsinbad]

'stevenTHUNDA' said above: "...17 hours ago [!!!? why can't they put the date for posterity?]" AGREE I find this habit very annoyingly unnecessary however the key is in the URL string wot has de date... 02 Aug 2021 which is in US format though.

[spazsinbad]

From the 130 extract F-35 relevant from the NASA report above on page 6 there is this quote:

"...In summary, rather than the breathing system responding to a pilot’s physiological needs, the pilot is forced to adapt to an unpredictable supply system with potentially adverse consequences. One may ask why such events are allowed to continue. Why do the pilots put up with it? In 2012, the NESC conducted an assessment of the F-22 pilot breathing problems. It was observed that:

The F-22 pilot community has come to accept a number of physiological phenomena as a “normal” part of flying the Raptor. These include the “Raptor cough,” excessive fatigue, headaches, difficulty breathing, and delayed ear blockages. The acceptance of these phenomena as “normal” could be seen as “normalization of deviance.”

This normalization of deviance is part of the F-35 culture as well. Pilots interviewed for this report indicate the F-35 community will endure much adversity to be one of the elite that fly the nation’s newest fighter. Pilot interviews also highlighted an organizational concern to protect the F-35 program, specifying undue pressure to suppress information and ascribe breathing problems to pilots rather than the aircraft. Previously we have emphasized that PEs happen to pilots, not to planes. The end goal is a breathing system which supports pilot breathing requirements, not aircraft-centric provisions. Hence, measuring pilot breathing metrics is the foundational part of understanding this complex problem....

...Some within the F-35 community may disregard the results presented in this report due to limited data; that would be a mistake. The importance of listening to what pilots are reporting about breathing dynamics cannot be overstated. This report provides detailed, data driven insight to help understand subjective pilot concerns about breathing and general stress in the cockpit. The NASA NESC team found instances of alarming problems in the F-35 breathing systems that should be corrected. It is our hope that this hard-earned knowledge can help our warfighters and better enable those responsible for the systems that keep them safe."

[spazsinbad]

Quote from page 17 from above PDF is disturbing while conditions explained otherwise in the PDF (but not here below):

"...previous software versions in the F-35 yielded prevalent OBOGS fails. The report refrains from comment regarding the accuracy of these notifications nor sensitivity of the system. The prevalence of these ICAWS were addressed in a software change, but in the interim, program guidance to the pilots modified pilot perception of the severity of this warning. In one incident, a pilot indicated he was notified of an OBOGS problem and went on the BOS, as dictated by the procedure. Unfortunately, as reported earlier, hypoxia recognition training does not accurately provide the expectation that symptoms may continue for some time before improvement. So, during the first few minutes on BOS [Backup Oxygen Supply], his condition continued to degrade. He misattributed his issue to be with the BOS and went back on the (actually) faulty OBOGS...."

2.2.3 Pilot Interview Conclusions
The excerpts from F-35 pilot interviews, above, suggest that there a number of problems with the F-35. A more comprehensive record of the pilot interviews is included in Appendix 7.1. The breathing experience in the aircraft is unlike anything these pilots had experienced before. The F-35’s breathing system noticeably discourages the normal breathing function via high-pressure, pressure surges, and hyperoxia. However, the pilots’ desire to fly this new fighter, despite the abnormal breathing experience, has led them to try and adapt as best they can both autonomically and cognitively. A mismatch between pilot expectation of the performance of a system and that system’s actual performance can provide warning of a potential problem. However, if the observed system performance continues to deviate from expected without formal assessment or protocol correction, expectations will recalibrate to consider the deviated performance as normal. This modifies the importance assigned to the system deviation and reduces the effectiveness of the warning system. This normalization of deviance can undermine the safety of mission, a pilot, and an entire program. Even flying the F-35 on routine sorties has led to symptoms that include dizziness, cognitive confusion [potential SD issue especially at night?], and severe fatigue. Some pilots who report the onset of hypoxia indicate that is markedly different than hypoxia awareness training. As difficult as the F-35 breathing system is, it can vary significantly between aircraft as described later in this report. Finally, despite highlighting these issues and requesting that the design of the F-35 breathing system be investigated, a number of the pilots interviewed believe that there is undue pressure to ascribe breathing problems to pilots and suppress information about these problems...."

[steve2267]

" limited data" in one sentence.

Then "detailed, data driven insight" in the next.

Some googling suggests that F-16's have had OBOGS since 2006, which was the year that the last of the Shaw AFB Vipers switched from LOX to OBOGS.

F-22 has OBOGS. F-22 had issues, what -- eight years ago? Seemingly resolved. F-16 has more PE issues than F-35, but there are more Vipers than Panthers.

Cobham manufactures the F-16, A-10, AV-8B, F/A-18CDEF, T-45 OBOGS among others.

Honeywell has the F-22, F-35, B-1B, B-2, Hawk, Gripen and Eurofighter.

I was going to pose the question if this could be an OBOGS manufacturer issue (i.e. Honeywell), but if memory serves the Navy has had issues with the SHornet / Growler and Hawk. Not sure who manufactured OBOGS for the T-6, though there are a plethora of articles around the 2018 timeframe announcing the USAF had "solved" the T-6 hypoxia problem and part of the solution was "a total redesign of the T-6 OBOGS" which might take up to four years to implement.

In Air Force Says It Knows Why T-6 Trainers Are Choking Pilots, But It'll Take Years To Fix writes:

“So far, technical efforts to date and analysis of data collected have determined that pilots have been exposed to [u]significantly changing levels of oxygen concentration[/u],” U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General Steve Kwast, head of AETC, said in a statement on Sept. 13, 2018. “The varying levels of oxygen concentration, even though in excess of what the body typically needs, has caused physiological stress that most pilots on most days actually adapt to without noticing.”

Kwast said that AETC and AFMC’s six-month review had determined that these fluctuations caused physiological stress in T-6 pilots whose bodies were not able to adapt quickly enough. This, in turn, produced symptoms akin to hypoxia, which is a lack of sufficient oxygen in the body, hypocapnea, or insufficient carbon dioxide, as well as other “related conditions.” Symptoms of these conditions can include headaches, disorientation, and even blacking out, all of which can be especially dangerous for a pilot in the air.

Could it be as simple that some persons are not able to "adapt quickly enough" to "significantly changing levels" of oxygen? "Simple" is complicated, though.

[outlaw162]

Of course, we could simply revert to the systems USAF used for 70 years without many complaints, huh?

I tend to agree with Gums. This whole situation seems to fall into the category of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'.

Shirley this 'cleverly advanced' system can be 'programmed' to function like a vanilla diluter demand system. It's only a computer, right? What are the advantages of this system touted to be? Where's the payoff for the pilot....in what flight regime? When is it better compared to other systems?

(BTW a family member flew a couple thousand hours as a T-6B IP and never had a problem with the OBOGS system nor hypoxia, nor did anyone in the squadron, IP or student while he was there. Of course not an F-35A, but maybe better valves, hoses, gizmos, etc., maybe better mx.....or maybe not a valid comparison.)

(additional BTW, the Corsair post thing brings to mind the old phrase, 'you buy 'em books, and they eat the covers'.