{"id":20787,"date":"2018-02-06T23:27:39","date_gmt":"2018-02-06T23:27:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/02\/06\/lawmaker-blasts-air-force-general-over-unsolved-hypoxia-problem\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T20:34:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:34:42","slug":"lawmaker-blasts-air-force-general-over-unsolved-hypoxia-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2018\/02\/06\/lawmaker-blasts-air-force-general-over-unsolved-hypoxia-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawmaker blasts Air Force general over unsolved hypoxia problem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The chairman of a House Armed Services subcommittee blasted the Air Force\u2019s<\/a> deputy chief of staff for operations Tuesday over the service\u2019s inability to get to the bottom of the hypoxia<\/a> problem plaguing pilots.
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\u201cI could not be more disappointed by your presentation,\u201d Rep. Michael Turner, R-Ohio, chairman of the subcommittee on tactical air and land forces, said after Lt. Gen. Mark Nowland finished his opening statement. \u201cThere is something wrong with the systems that these pilots are relying on for their lives.\u201d
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Turner was irked by Nowland\u2019s suggestion in his opening statement that training will be critical as the Air Force tries to solve the hypoxia<\/a> problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShould we start doing hearing training where we ask you to come before us and then let\u2019s have you hold your breath for a minute in the first hearing, and then in the second hearing we\u2019ll have you hold your breath for two minutes?\u201d Turner said. \u201cIt makes no sense.\u201d
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Nowland stressed that he was not blaming pilots when he referred to training.
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He said that the Air Force believes it is finding that maintenance problems may be at the root of hypoxia problems with the T-6 Texan II, which has been grounded since Feb. 1 after pilots had 13 hypoxia-like incidents in a single week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A T-6 Texan pilot flies in formation with another T-6 over Laughlin Air Force Base in Texas. The 19th Air Force\u2019s fleet of T-6 trainers were grounded after 13 unexplained events such as hypoxia in a single week, Air Education and Training Command said Thursday.\n (Tech. Sgt. Jeffrey Allen\/Air Force)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Air Force hasn\u2019t set proper procedures for maintaining the T-6\u2019s onboard oxygen generation system, or OBOGS, and hasn\u2019t trained its maintainers properly on how to maintain it, Nowland said. He said the Air Force thinks there is a fix for the OBOGS, but has not yet confirmed it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

T-6s have flown 2.1 million hours, with 1.95 physiological incidents for every 100,000 hours flown. Hypoxia or hypoxia-like incidents have mushroomed in the T-6 this fiscal year, with 22 being recorded so far in fiscal 2018. The T-6 typically has between two and five incidents each year.
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Nowland also said F-22 aircrews, who also have reported hypoxia-like incidents, weren\u2019t trained properly on how to wear their life support equipment.
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The Air Force loses 700 training flights a day while the T-6 is grounded, Nowland said, which will hurt the service\u2019s pilot training.
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It couldn\u2019t come at a worse time for the Air Force, which is trying to fix a serious pilot shortfall.
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