I heard first-hand of pilots faking engine issues on take off because they where afraid if failures over the pacific. They were just trying to get to much out of a limited design..Kinda like the Buell XB9RR...They just kept chasing the weak-link until they realized that that was it..No mas! The elegant simplicity of turbines, especially free-wheeling turbo-props is beauty in itself
I have heard alot of bad things from F-22 ground crews ( family..) I love the plane..but maybe it was too big of a step..Kinda reminds me of the F-11I, pre D model F14s and the Valkyrie.
Toxic chemicals in the pilot's blood? Passing out at altitude? and they insist it's NOT the oxygen generator?
We have a real issue with the U2/TR1 planes. Not that the plane is bad. ( still a very high skill plane to fly ) It's the long missions at very high altitude. The pilots are having health problems.
The F-22 ALSO flies higher than most ( better for stealth if you're further away, Higher is further away, and the further you can see ) and has had it's share of pilot health issues.
It doesn't seem to be the plane itself, after all it has been tested for a long long time.
We need better space suits, IMHO.
Also, the f-22 is the first stealth fighter. The f-117 is a mini bomber. Imagine the joy on a maintenance mans' face reading the new manual. "ok, first I clean the putty out of all the screws. Then break the paint seal on on the panel, all the way around. Pull screws, clean in solvent. Pull panel. Change part. Sand panel, and panel opening edges for repaint. Repaint edges of panel and panel opening. Sand overspray. Replace panel. Dry screws. Replace screws. Putty all screws and panel edges. Sand panel edges and screws. Run check on replaced part. &^*(&^%$!!!!!!!! sigh. Clean panel screws of putty............."
I both wrote and used technical manuals for a living....I was taught when I used them that the people that wrote them where idiots..When I wrote them I was taught the people that used them...I feel we have long exceeded the pilots ability to survive in a 12+g hostile environment, besides the weight and wasted engineering to support the pilot. The current Mars rovers are just the beginning.
I agree we've reached the limits of human endurance, but when an USAF General tells us "the next generation of drones will have Autonomous Targeting systems" I can't help but ask "Now, what movie was it that building the unstoppable killing machine was a Good Idea?"
And to return to the OT..... Our New Unstoppable Killing Machines are probably built with chips from china with a back door so that a potential enemy can turn them off, or on us, at will.
Manuals. Nuff said. 
