{"id":39043,"date":"2018-02-23T20:04:45","date_gmt":"2018-02-23T20:04:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2018\/02\/23\/flying-blind-and-freezing-navy-investigating-terrifying-ea-18g-growler-flight\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:05:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:05:24","slug":"flying-blind-and-freezing-navy-investigating-terrifying-ea-18g-growler-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/breaking-news\/2018\/02\/23\/flying-blind-and-freezing-navy-investigating-terrifying-ea-18g-growler-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"Flying blind and freezing: Navy investigating terrifying EA-18G Growler flight"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 The two-seater EA-18G was cruising at 25,000 feet Jan. 29, about 60 miles south of Seattle on a flight from Washington state\u2019s Naval Air Station Whidbey Island to Naval Weapons Station China Lake. The crew received a warning that the system that controls the cockpit air temperature and cabin pressure, known as the environmental control system, was icing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time the flight was over, an elite aircrew with Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Nine was being rushed for medical treatment, and yet another failure <\/a>of the EA-18G Growler\u2019s environmental control system \u2014 one not seen in any of the previous physiological episodes <\/a>linked to the ECS \u2014 was raising new concerns in the Navy\u2019s sisyphean fight to stop physiological episodes from putting pilots at risk in the sky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The temperature inside the cockpit suddenly plunged to temperatures reaching -30 degrees and a mist pumped into the cockpit, covering the instruments and windows in a layer of ice, rendering the pilots almost completely blind, according to several sources familiar with the incident and an internal report obtained by Defense News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fog inside the aircraft iced over the instrument panel, forcing the pilot and electronic warfare officer to use a Garmin watch to keep track of their heading and altitude while air controllers began relaying instructions to the crew. The pilot and EWO were forced to use the emergency oxygen supply, which was completely depleted by the end of the flight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A heroic effort by the two-person crew and the ground-based controllers managed to guide the aircraft back to Whidbey Island, but both pilot and EWO suffered serious injuries due to frostbite. The aircrew suffered from \u201csevere blistering and burns on hands,\u201d according to the Navy internal report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement, Naval Air Forces spokesman Cmdr. Ron Flanders confirmed the incident and that the Navy was trying to determine the cause of the incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe aircrew was treated upon landing; one of the aircrew is already back in a flight status; the other is not yet back in a flight status but is expected to make a complete recovery,\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe mishap is under investigation; I cannot comment further. Once the investigation is complete, the Navy will determine which further actions are necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ECS failures<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the specific failure of the environmental control system in this instance hasn\u2019t been recorded by the Navy previously, the ECS has been a persistent problem as it grapples with a recent spike in PEs in Hornets and Growlers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Navy describes the system as<\/a> \u201ca complex aggregate of sub-components, all of which must function for the system to work as a whole.\u201d The Navy believes that aging parts and inadequate testing procedures have contributed to certain PEs that result from depressurization inside the cockpit and oxygen deprivation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But overpressurization has also been a problem. Two years ago, a pilot and EWO were horrifically injured <\/a>when their cockpit overpressurized and exploded, shattering the plexiglass canopy and sending shards in all directions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, about 25 percent of the PEs suffered by aircrews in the Super Hornets and the Growlers have been traced back to ECS failures, according to a Navy official who spoke on background. Those numbers were much higher in the legacy Hornets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile the head of the Navy\u2019s Physiological Episodes Action Team, Sara \u201cClutch\u201d Joyner, is being pulled from the project<\/a> after less than a year in the position and is taking a job on the Joint Staff, raising some alarm bells in Congress. Her replacement has not been named.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PEs have wreaked havoc in the aviation community. In 2016, the Navy had its worst year on record for PEs, including 125 total in the Growler\/Hornet community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last April, Navy instructor pilots staged a borderline mutiny<\/a> when they felt like their supervisors were ignoring serious PE problems with the Navy\u2019s T-45 aircraft. The Navy has since made progress<\/a> in T-45 PE incidents but the revolt of the instructor pilots grabbed the attention of senior leadership and made the PE issue front-and-center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But definitive answers as to what is causing the spike in PEs are elusive and the Navy is continuing to chip away at the issue. Joyner has said that she doesn\u2019t believe there is one solution for all the PE issues but that the Navy has made progress in some areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\t