F-22 flygerne får for mye oksygen?

Foto: Lockheed Martin

Rather than receiving too little oxygen, the pilots of one of the world’s most advanced fighter aircraft could be taking in too much, according to a NASA assessment of the F-22 ’s life support system.
Pilots of the Raptor have for years experienced breathing difficulties and something now called “ Raptor cough.” The Air Force launched serious investigations into the problem in 2008, after pilots reported an increasing number of “hypoxia-like symptoms.”
Since that time, the Air Force has pointed to a “mosaic” of interrelated problems in the cockpit.
Independently, the NASA Engineering Safety Center conducted its own assessment, and principle engineer Clinton Cragg presented the findings during a House Armed Services Committee hearing Sept. 13. The assessment found that a high concentration of oxygen at low altitudes can lead to “absorption atelectasis,” in which too much oxygen can wash away necessary nitrogen within the lungs and cause lung tissue to collapse. The effects of high oxygen levels are compounded by the aircraft’s “inevitable acceleration,” Cragg said.