The Navy hopes to announce on Friday the plan to fix its grounded T-45C training jets and their troubled oxygen systems, according to a Navy spokeswoman.
The jets were originally grounded last week for three days after a boycott by hundreds of pilots, including Vice President Mike Pence’s son, who did not feel safe in the cockpit due to a faulty oxygen system.
But on Saturday, the Navy announced it would extend what it calls an “operational pause.” Cmdr. Jeannie Groeneveld said the extension is expected to last until Friday, when the service will announce what the “road ahead” will be for the aircraft, which is used to train Navy and Marine aviators.
The service said it needed more time to review engineering data and develop a plan for dealing with problems in the jet’s life support system that can lead to higher rates of hypoxia, a dangerous condition that can disorient pilots.
“This will remain our top safety priority until we fully understand all causal factors and have eliminated [physiological episodes] as a risk to our flight operations,” Vice Adm. Mike Shoemaker, the commander of Naval Air Forces, said in a statement released Saturday.
Shoemaker was traveling to three U.S. training sites to speak directly with worried pilots.
Last week, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson was questioned about the pilot boycott during testimony before the House Armed Services Committee.
He called the oxygen system mishaps a “vexing problem” and said the service was pulling out all the stops to fix it.
Two T-45s from Texas and Mississippi were transported to Naval Air Systems Command over the weekend for a full evaluation by engineers and other staff, according to the Navy.
The team is looking for a solution to the oxygen system used by pilots when the aircraft is flown above 10,000 feet.
