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Luke Air Force Base to resume F-35 flights after hypoxia investigation

Luke Air Force Base to resume F-35 flights after hypoxia investigation
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Luke Air Force Base will resume flights of F-35 fighter jets Wednesday after experts and engineers investigated a series of events in which pilots reported symptoms of oxygen deprivation.

Officials with the 56th Fighter Wing at Luke said Monday that no specific root cause for the events was identified but specific concerns were eliminated as possible causes including maintenance and aircrew flight equipment procedures.

F-35 flights at Luke have been grounded since June 9 after five separate in-flight incidents involving reports of hypoxia since May 2.

According to the Air Force, the F-35's backup oxygen system in each instance worked as designed and the pilot was able to land the plane safely.

 

Luke, located 15 miles west of Phoenix, is one of the Air Force's primary F-35 pilot-training bases.