Air Force: No punishment for F-22 whistleblowers Captain Josh Wilson and Major Jeremy Gordon

Captain Josh Wilson, left, and Major Jeremy Gordon / 60 Minutes

(CBS News) At a previously scheduled hearing of a Senate Armed Services subcommittee on Tuesday, the Air Force was questioned about the F-22's oxygen deprivation problem and about pilots who came forward in the "60 Minutes" story that first exposed the issue on Sunday.

The pilots said in interviews with "60 Minutes" that they have chosen to stop flying the F-22 because they say during some flights they and other pilots have experienced oxygen deprivation, disorientation, and worse. They are concerned about their safety in the air, as well as the long-term health consequences. They also expressed concerns about being punished for raising these concerns outside typical military channels.

60 Minutes Overtime

The F-22 pilots who talked: Why they did it »

At the Senate hearing Tuesday, lawmakers learned that the top brass of the Air Force has issued a directive that the two pilots who appeared, Captain Josh Wilson and Major Jeremy Gordon, should not be retaliated against.

This is significant because both men faced potential disciplinary action for choosing not to fly the jet over health concerns, and because proceedings have begun already against one of them, Captain Wilson.

When Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown asked General Janet Wolfenbarger to confirm there would be no retaliation against the two pilots, Wolfenbarger said "absolutely" not.

"There is clearly the whistleblower protection, the statute that protects those folks," Wolfenbarger elaborated, adding that she considered the two pilots whistleblowers. "Our chief and our secretary have made that understood in our Air Force."

A lawyer for the pilots, Fredrick M. Morgan Jr., said in a statement he welcomed the general's assurances that no negative action would be taken against the men.

"We were profoundly gratified to hear General Janet Wolfenbarger clearly confirm, in her testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee this afternoon, what we have believed all along: That Major Gordon and Captain Wilson are fully protected from reprisal by the Military Whistleblower Protection Act," Morgan said.

Watch a video of the committee hearing
The full "60 Minutes" report on problems with the F-22 program

Morgan cautioned, however, that the pilots were not fully in the clear.

"We now look forward to the prompt withdrawal of the Letter of Reprimand against Captain Wilson, the termination of the Flying Evaluation Board proceeding, the reinstatement of his job and his promotion to Major, and the return of these fine officers to the service of their Nation at the controls of the airplane they love," Morgan said.

The two pilots have been invited back to Capitol Hill Thursday to meet Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, their home state.

Watch the full "60 Minutes" report on the F-22 below

[Reticuli]

The AF has indeed been covering all their bases. After looking at all the available reports, I am increasingly thinking this is more probably an issue of a sort of group hysteria meme. By hysteria, I do not mean that in a derogatory sense, because the stresses on these pilots while in flight is extreme and issues with common inertia-related breathing strain and vertigo in combination could cause symptoms that they could be easily motivated to over-judge as hypoxia. The new carbon filters shedding into the breathing loop probably made the situation more claustrophobic and stressful, not to mention worrisome about something possibly more serious when they began coughing up carbon gunk.

But the original incident in Alaska was apparently not a malfunction of the oxygen generation system. There was a failure (or perceived failure by the automated BIT/failure addressing systems) of one of the engine's bleed airs. That bleed air obviously has to be shut off if that is the conclusion the computers make to save the engine from exploding and was shut off, resulting in the oxygen generation system being inoperable. When the pilot realized he should compensate for this by turning on the emergency oxygen, he had to twist around in the cockpit to get to it without bumping the bulky nightvision goggles he was wearing into the canopy. That contortion of his body allowed the pedals and the stick to get nudged just enough (the stick is particularly difficult to judge how much input is being applied without looking at a heads-up display or external visual reference since it is a pressure/force stick that doesn't move much), and he accidentally dove the aircraft into the ground.

Now, yes, the handle he was reaching for was difficult to find and could not be grabbed easily by feel alone due also to its shape. The AF is finally addressing that issue. The other cause is just as serious: the F-22 cockpit was never really optimized to be flown in wearing bulky nightvision goggles added to the helmet. And the size and shape of that cockpit was the result of massive research. The anthropometrics were originally designed with a VR display built into the helmet that would project cueing information, flight data, and light amplification or thermal augmentation in front of your vision at all times (the latter from the IRST). The funding for implementing this essential and originally-intended feature has been cut by Congress & the DoD and continually moved back to later and later dates. The full helmet mounted display would have done two things: 1) it would have been less bulky and un-ergonomic, making it easy to turn in the cockpit without bumping your head gear into anything during night flights, and 2) it would have made the aircraft's orientation obvious to the pilot as the positional symbology information would have been in his view at all times like a floating HUD in his vision.

The idea that some F-15, F-16, and F-18s are already getting the first generation JHMCS, not to mention the F-35 is being completely built around an even more advanced version, but the F-22, the most advanced manned air-combat fighter that will probably ever be built, is the victim of these sorts of penning-pinching budget cuts, should give everyone pause. The F-22's helmet cueing funds have been cut. Its ground and side radar implementations have been reduced, cut, or moved to "a later administration". The Infrared Search and Track (IRST) system budget has been cut. The Datalink modernization (so that it can integrate into the rest of the newest AF feeds) has been cut. The implementation of the newest GPS munitions cannot go forward with these cuts. And yet people keep complaining that the F-22 can't be used in Afghanistan and that it's been more difficult to deal with some of its limitations than expected. These are budget-connected limitations imposed by the rest of the government on the F-22 fleet. At this point, the program appears to have been short changed by Congress, the Defense Department, and the media.

[Ydnaryllek]

After 20 years in the Air Force,I have seen this before and there is no way these two pilots will ever survive to retirement. The Air force, like all of the services, does not like any bad publicity and there is no amount of Congressional reassurance that will prevent retaliation. Their careers are ruined.

[Cryptnotic]

I'm sure they realize that their Air Force careers are over. That is why their lawyers are pushing for reinstatement, promotion, et cetera. They will hope for a settlement like honorable discharge and early retirement.

[talkin2u924]

To the Staff of 60 minutes: Here are essential questions I would have liked asked of the General you had on air: Why on earth would you not commend the fliers under your command for the courage they showed to expose flaws with the F-22? Why does it take public exposure to keep you from punishing your officers? Why would you consider punishing your officers in the first place? What did they do? I think this General was not held accountable for his attitudes towards the officers under his command and why it took this kind of pressure for him to behave in a way that is acceptable. Still he wants to put in the air a Jet that has unsolved problems. His attitudes are unsafe and careless.

[bradkt1]

Their careers will be ended eventually...and probably sooner than later. Remember the "Tailhook" whistleblowers in the U.S. Navy? It took about one year to end their careers.

The armed forces have made retaliation into an art form. It's called "command influence." A lot of high ranking officers have staked their careers on the success and deployment of the F-22 and they don't want to hear anything bad about...or any criticism that stands in the way of...their pet project. They have a long reach and even longer memories.

Yes, these pilots are very brave...but payback will be coming their way one day.

[robert1129]

I agree with you. But if they were protected under this Act, why did the USAF retaliate in the first place? Surely, the Suits must have had some legal type telling them not to retaliate. What I think the Senate should do is to find out who broke this law and bring them before the committee to find out why they broke the law.

[aintfakin]

These pilots had to go through channels before they went public
Someone else needs their asz handed to them for covering this up or standing by and doing nothing

[rwsmith29456]

It worries me that after this dies down they may find that there careers are 'stalled' but it sounds like good news.

[MobytheMinnow]

Your flying at the speed of sound and beyond. Your forcing air past a so called "generator". Who is in charge of sampling oxygen rates from this device and at what "PRESSURE" is it being subjected to? Take the so called generator down in a hyperbaric chamber that simulates the pressure of being in the plane, pump the same PSI air past it and use the same set of "Jet Engines" to do it. I can bet that up in the air at a high rate of speed it is overwhelming the seals due to contraction and expansion of said seals during flight. When back on the ground the seals are no longer being subjected to the same pressures. Air moving at a high rate of speed is much cooler and at higher altitudes. Remember Challenger? Get someone who knows something of high pressure seals to do an end to end test. Somewhere someone's math is a BIT FUZZY! COME ON GUYS! Did we try different flight headgear? Nasa space suit vs facemask?

[AnnieDanny]

Seems as if the incidents that these two pilots experienced were life threatening and I can certainly understand their concern. Somebody needs to go back to the drawing board and find out what's happening.

[robert1129]

Much more than that. The Committee has to go back and find out who retaliated againist the Captain even though it was illegal to do so.