F-22 Raptor

In response to growing concern about problems with its F-22 Raptor fighter jet, the Air Force revealed it has slapped on new safety restrictions to protect its pilots.

HILL AIR FORCE BASE — The Air Force announced that it is scaling back its participation in dozens of air shows in 2012 to cut costs and put money into combat operations. But officials said the upcoming show at Hill Air Force Base won’t look much different than it has in years past.

Officials at Air Combat Command eliminated the solo performances of five of its crews based in Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Utah.

Eliminating solo performances by the A-10, the F-16 and the F-15E is expected to save the Air Force $15.5 million and allow about 970 training flights that otherwise would have been canceled.

ST. GEORGE -- Thousands of people are expected to swarm into St. George this weekend as the U.S. Navy's Blue Angels make their first visit to the state for the two-day Thunder Over Utah Air Show.

Capt. Jeff "Bong" Haney was headed back to base in his F-22 Raptor fighter jet, ripping through the frigid Alaskan night beyond the speed of sound at more than 1,000 mph, when things started going terribly wrong.

Packed tight in cold-weather gear to protect him from the bitter temperatures, the Air Force pilot pulled back on the control stick at about 38,400 feet to gain altitude. Then Haney saw his plane was beginning to fail him.

A caution light glowed green through his night vision goggles, alerting him that a section of the aircraft was overheating. Almost instantly, the F-22’s onboard computers detected an air leak in the engine bay and began automatic shutdown of various systems — including the main oxygen supply.

Gasping for air, Haney set the throttles to idle and began lowering the plane to the snow-covered valley below. About 35 seconds later, Haney’s plane began to roll upside down. He couldn’t recover. There amid the Talkeetna Mountains north of Anchorage, Haney, 31, crashed and died.

The crash was another grim episode for the controversial Lockheed Martin Corp.-made F-22 fighter jet that has been in service since 2005, yet never called into combat despite conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. The plane, the military’s most expensive fighter jet, has continued to experience equipment problems — notably with its oxygen systems.

It's the most expensive fighter jet ever built. Yet the F-22 Raptor has never seen a day of combat, and its future is clouded by a government safety investigation that has grounded the jet for months.

The fleet of 158 F-22s has been sidelined since May 3, following more than a dozen incidents in which oxygen was cut off to pilots, making them woozy. The malfunction is suspected of contributing to at least one fatal accident.

At an estimated cost of $412 million each, the F-22s amount to about $65 billion sitting on the tarmac. The grounding is the latest dark chapter for an aircraft plagued by problems, and whose need was called into question even before its first test flight.