It seems that some of the Air Force’s F-22 Raptor fighter pilots have anti-freeze in their bloodstreams as well as oil fumes and propane and, as of yet, no one can figure out why. The issue was discovered when a couple of the pilots started acting like they’d been hitting the giggle-juice and had trouble remembering how to perform basic skills like using the radio. This is not the first time F-22 Raptor’s have done unpleasant things to the fellows who pilot them.
Naturally, the Air Force conducted a three-month study, the results of which were rather unsatisfying. It appears that the pilots did, in fact, have anti-freeze in their bloodstreams and it was causing problems. That’s it. No word on how it got in there, where it came from, or how to stop it. Just that it’s there. I’m no scientographist, but I imagine it has something to do with piloting an F-22 Raptor. Gizmodo quotes a former pilot as hypothesizing:
There is a lot of nasty stuff getting pumped into the pilots’ bloodstream through what they’re breathing from that OBOGS [On-Board Oxygen Generation System]. That’s fact. How bad it is, what type it is, exactly how much of it, how long – all these things have not been answered.”
(via Gizmodo)
