Navy instructor pilots refusing to fly

The Navy is continuing sieve bed testing, but has yet to identify a contamination issue that is high enough to cause a problem. The first students are flying again, but they're only allowed to fly on aircraft that have the CRU-123 digital upgrade to the CRU-99 and water separator installed. The CRU-123 monitors oxygen pressure and temperature, and records it for later analysis. So far, 115 of 170 active aircraft have it installed, and it will be installed on all aircraft by the end of the second quarter of 2018. The water separator has been installed on 146 of the 197 total aircraft that are in the fleet (the 196 includes test airframes, and aircraft that are currently non-flyable.

Since August, there have been 4 PEs reported. Interestingly, only one of the two pilots was affected. The CRU-123 reported oxygen levels and pressure at normal levels. That points to a physical factor with the pilots, instead of a system issue, at least in these events.

www.flightglobal.com...

a reply to: Zaphod58

They lost a T-45 last Sunday. Trainee and instructor were killed.

news.usni.org...

a reply to: JIMC5499

Caught that. We were in Knoxville earlier that day, not far from the crash.