The widow of Capt Jeff Haney, killed in the November 2010 crash of an F-22 in Alaska, is suing the contractors who built the plane — which includes Lockheed, Boeing, Honeywell, and Pratt & Whitney.

It states that the aircraft was sold with known defective on-board oxygen generating system, bleed air system and other life support systems. “The life support systems of the F-22 Raptor aircraft were and are completely and wholly inadequate,” the lawsuit states.

In the mishap that keeps coming back to the Air Force, the IG recently decided to investigate the investigation of the accident, and Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz told Congress the Air Force did not blame the pilot — which is what most people, including his family, got from the report.

Lawsuits against contractors over military aircraft mishaps are probably a legal spiderweb.  While the contractor built the plane, the government accepted it and generally maintains it.  There are varying degrees of thought on the “voluntary” use of military equipment by servicemembers, and they are trained to use it by the government and ultimately employ the aircraft without regard to the contractor.

In 2008, Maj Stephen Stilwell sued Boeing after he was injured when his F-15C Eagle broke apart in midair.  Subsequent investigations ultimately grounded the entire fleet of US Air Force F-15Cs.  Four years later, it is nearly impossible to tell what became of that lawsuit outside of closed judicial channels.

In 2010, Boeing’s lawyers claim they successfully won a dismissal of a lawsuit filed by Don Yoon and others when their family was killed in a US Marine F/A-18 crash that leveled his home.  The lawsuit against the US government is ongoing.

At least one law firm’s website claims a victorious settlement in a lawsuit over a US military aircraft’s faulty ejection resulting in the death of the pilot — though the details beyond that are “confidential.”

US military pilots live in a dangerous world, but one that does not need to be made more dangerous through the faults of others. There is no easy answer.

Incidentally, the Air Force reportedly received a redesigned emergency oxygen handle for the F-22 — the very switch the report said Haney was attempting, unsuccessfully, to activate when he died.

Also noted at the Air Force Times and Stars and Stripes.