Congress requires T-45 updates

WASHINGTON - When Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) heard about T-45C flight-training instructors at Naval Air Station Meridian, Miss., refusing to fly the training jets over oxygen system issues, she was skeptical. “I thought: ‘Well, shame on them’,” she told reporters. But the issue became very real for her over the weekend during a congressional delegation trip to the Navy’s bases in Hampton Roads, Va. The Navy put Ernst into an oxygen-breathing device and dialed back the oxygen to her mask. “It was a terrifying experience for me,” Ernst said. “They walked us through what symptoms we might have as the oxygen was reduced, and it was just like textbook." Her face flushed; fingers numbed; legs tingled; and became “very hard to concentrate,” she said. Ernst has taken on the issue by introducing an amendment to this FY’s National Defense Authorization Act that requires the Navy to give quarterly reports to Congress on its hunt for a solution. Pilots in the T-45, F/A-18 Super Hornet and even the F-35 have reported physiological episodes as a result of oxygen deprivation. The Navy has introduced several measures seeking to cut down on incidents, but is still searching for more permanent fixes to the hypoxia issue. (Source: Navy Times 11/07/17)