Air Force has temporarily stopped flying F-35 fighter jets at Luke Air Force Base in Glendale after a series of incidents in which pilots reported symptoms of hypoxia, or oxygen deprivation.

Air Force spokesman Capt. Mark Graff had said that the temporary halt was followed after five separate in-flight incidents. Graff said in each case, the airplane’s backup oxygen system worked as designed and the pilot was able to land the plane safely.

“The Air Force takes these physiological incidents seriously and our focus is on the safety and well-being of our pilots,” said Brig. Gen. Brook Leonard, 56th Fighter Wing commander at Luke. “We are taking the necessary steps to find the root cause of these incidents.”

Maj. Rebecca Heyse, a chief public affairs officer for Luke had said that each of the five pilots' symptoms were slightly different, from dizziness and disorientation to tingling in their extremities.

She said that the hypoxia complaints came from five different pilots who flew different jets. Heyse didn't know if the affected pilots are continuing to fly but said such complaints wouldn't have disqualified them from future operations.

Heyse said that she wasn't sure whether the jet's main oxygen unit had malfunctioned and didn't have any leads to the source of the issue. She said that she didn't know if the backup oxygen systems were activated automatically or manually.

Heyse mentioned the commander was concerned about the frequency of hypoxia-related incidents and halted flights to explain the situation to Luke staff. The base also will re-educate pilots on how to detect and deal with hypoxia while flying to ensure any future cases also result in safe landings, she said.

By Premji