The Air Force is fighting in-flight physiological issues but can’t end them, Pentagon watchdog says – By Rachel Cohen (Defense News) / Sept 3 2021
The Air Force has made dozens of changes to reduce the risk of flight sickness among airmen who fly five types of military aircraft, but says it can’t erase the problem altogether after more than a decade of studies, according to a new report from the Pentagon Inspector General’s Office.
“It cannot completely eliminate [physiological events] caused by unanticipated aircraft malfunctions or human factors,” the Sept. 2 report said of the Air Force, later adding: “All occupations have some hazards that cannot be eliminated.”
Those incidents — such as hypoxia, hyper- and hypoventilation, decompression sickness, trapped gas disorders, gravity-induced loss of consciousness, spatial disorientation and visual issues, and toxic substance exposure — have rattled the aviation community and spurred nearly 70 research studies of aircraft and airmen’s breathing systems since October 2009.
Nearly 600 physiological events occurred across six kinds of Air Force planes between fiscal 2010 and 2020, including the F-15, F-22, F-35A and T-6A fleets, according to the Air Force Safety Center. The issues have led the service to temporarily ground the aircraft as it tried to figure out the problem.
