Israeli F-16s grounded
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The whole Israeli fleet of F-16Is grounded... all because one of the fighters had dangerous amounts of formaldehyde.
NY Times
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/21/in-israel-a-health-threat-in-a-fighter-jet/index.html?ex=1206763200&en=cfae1b13664a8593&ei=5123&partner=BREITBART
Haaretz
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/966970.html
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Not grounded. But training halted. Different meaning. Anyway, it is just a safety precaution. The leak was just in one cockpit and very small. It was a small incident. You can breath in the same substance from combustion exhaust from your cars. Smoking cigarettes is more dangerous imho.
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No one signs up to become a fighter pilot thinking that the job will be risk-free, the Lede surmises. You’ll be expected to do difficult and daring things with a high-performance aircraft bristling with weapons, and then there’s the whole business of enemies trying their best to blow you out of the sky should hostilities break out, the eventuality of which is, after all, why there are fighter pilots to begin with.
But cancer?
Word this morning from Israel is that they’ve halted all training flights by the country’s fleet of F-16I jets — a variant of the familiar American F-16 built especially for them by Lockheed Martin — because of a carcinogen in the cockpit.
The offending stuff is formaldehyde, which is perhaps most familiar as a preservative for biology-class frog and fetal-pig specimens. Formaldehyde has many industrial uses, and its fumes are given off by a host of synthetic materials, including certain plastics, resins and glues; foam insulation is a frequent culprit. The fumes are also found in combustion exhaust. In small unventilated spaces like a closed room or a jet cockpit, the fumes can accumulate to harmful levels.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency says that inhaling formaldehyde is associated with an increased risk of cancer in the linings of your nose, throat and lungs, among other things (ingesting the stuff isn’t a great idea either). Put enough formaldehyde in the air around you, and your eyes probably will start to water and your throat may burn.
Israel has a lot riding on the F-16I. The initial $2.5 billion order it placed with Lockheed Martin for at least 50 of the jets in 1999 was the biggest arms order in the country’s history and drew wide criticism; Israel has since ordered more. The first batch delivered in 2004 drew complaints over radar problems. Even so, the F-16I is the leading weapon of the Israeli Air Force, and the air force has been the crucial element in Israel’s military superiority over its neighbors in war after war.
The decision to halt training flights — not, notably, to ground the planes entirely — was prompted by tests that found formaldehyde in just one of the planes, Haaretz reports. And truth to tell, any Israeli fighter pilot who smokes cigarettes may be exposed to a lot more formaldehyde than by sitting in the cockpit. But the Israeli Defense Forces took action anyway, no doubt figuring that the unavoidable risks of Top-Gunnery are great enough without adding any avoidable ones.
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sibeh common la, there will be a fleet check
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Not grounded. But training halted. Different meaning.
so the training were halted.....but the plane used for the training were not grounded.....DAMN ...a UCAV F16!...lol
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so the training were halted.....but the plane used for the training were not grounded.....DAMN ...a UCAV F16!...lol
It means the planes will still be used for operations when needed. F16Is are used for both training and operations. Especially when you can get more contamination smoking a cig or by standing next to a smoking smoker or on polluted street in Malaysia. Use your brain.
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Whats the current status?
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Carcinogenic materials found in 2 additional F-16I fighter jets By Yuval Azoulay,
Haaretz Correspondent
Carcinogenic materials have been found in two additional F-16I Sufa ("Storm") fighter jets, a little over a week after IAF Commander Eliezer Shkedy ordered all F-16I jets grounded after the same material was found in the cockpit of two F-16Is.
The material was identified as formaldehyde, which has been proven to cause cancer in high levels of exposure. The IAF is currently awaiting the results of tests on an additional 10 jets and has still not determined how the material made its way into the jets.After the substance was first discovered, Shkedi arranged for all F-16I pilots to meet with the head of the IAF medical department, who explained to them the health ramifications of the substance.
F16I pilots have been complaining of irritations of mucous membranes and throat for three years, but recently, the complaints rose dramatically. Most of the complaints were lodged by pilots serving at an IAF base in southern Israel.
The IAF said that the earlier complaints were investigated, but nothing was ever found.
Since the discovery of the substance in the cockpit of one of the fighter jets, four pilots have been tested, but only one tested positive for exposure.
According to the officer, the substance could cause throat cancer, but stressed that the likelihood of cancer is about 1 to 100,000. "In any case, this kind of cancer could erupt up to 15 years after the initial exposure," he said.
A contingent of IAF officials is currently performing examinations of the Lockheed Martin assembly plant in Fort Worth, Texas where the F-16I is built, in order to determine the source of the material.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Not a physical issue which affects the plane or its ability to carry out its mission imo. But still, it is only right that they check the source of the contamination. IMO, nothing they can`t fix or seal the affected areas.
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so the killer of the mighty IAF were cancer! funny...lol
i mean no PUN intended ... i dont smoke anyway....(accept cuban cigar lol)
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Originally posted by Skye2:
It means the planes will still be used for operations when needed. F16Is are used for both training and operations. Especially when you can get more contamination smoking a cig or by standing next to a smoking smoker or on polluted street in Malaysia. Use your brain.
check your joke meter dude..it needs calibration.... -
Originally posted by tankfanatic:
so the training were halted.....but the plane used for the training were not grounded.....DAMN ...a UCAV F16!...lol
yeah... lets's not waste it... u can use it to crash on a GPMG gun site
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why the heck lionoisy didnt bother to comment in other topic like this eh? now that should be fun!
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Because not too many Singaporeans migrating to Israel mah...
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his boyfriend migrate to Australia? awwww...that hurts..no wonder he so pissed about oz