FILE - Search and rescue teams leave the command post at St. Mary’s Wilderness en route to the Blue Ridge Parkway to search for the site where a Cessna Citation crashed in the mountainous terrain near Montebello, Va., June 4, 2023. (Randall K. Wolf via AP, File)
A lack of oxygen likely incapacitated the pilot of a private jet that crashed in Virginia in 2023
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) 鈥 A lack of oxygen that incapacitated the pilot and three passengers is likely what caused a private jet to become unresponsive before flying over the nation鈥檚 capital and prompting the military to scramble fighter jets in 2023, according to a final report from the National Transportation Safety Board released on Tuesday.
FILE - Search and rescue teams leave the command post at St. Mary’s Wilderness en route to the Blue Ridge Parkway to search for the site where a Cessna Citation crashed in the mountainous terrain near Montebello, Va., June 4, 2023. (Randall K. Wolf via AP, File)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) 鈥 A lack of oxygen that incapacitated the pilot and three passengers is likely what caused a private jet to become unresponsive before flying over the nation鈥檚 capital and prompting the military to scramble fighter jets in 2023, according to a final report from the National Transportation Safety Board released on Tuesday.
The oxygen problem was likely caused by a loss of cabin pressure, according to the report. Investigators could not determine the exact reason for the pressure loss, but they noted that the Cessna Citation had a number of maintenance issues. They included no pilot-side oxygen mask and supplemental oxygen at its minimum serviceable level.
鈥淎t that level, oxygen would not have been available to the airplane occupants and passenger oxygen masks would not have deployed in the event of a loss of pressurization,鈥 according to the report. It concluded that, 鈥淐ontributing to the accident was the pilot鈥檚 and owner/operator鈥檚 decision to operate the airplane without supplemental oxygen.鈥
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in the June 4, 2023 accident. They were pilot Jeff Hefner, 69; New York real estate broker Adina Azarian, 49; Azarian鈥檚 2-year-old daughter Aria; and Evadnie Smith, 56, who worked as live-in nanny for Aria. Prior to the crash, Azarian, Aria and Smith were in North Carolina to visit Azarian鈥檚 adoptive parents.
Hefner instructions within minutes of taking off from Elizabethton, Tennessee, at 1:13 p.m. The plane flew to New York, near its destination at Long Island鈥檚 MacArthur Airport, then turned around and flew a straight path over D.C. Fighter jets sent after it caused a that was heard across the capital region as they raced to catch up. The plane then in into a mountain near Montebello, Virginia, and burst into flames at 3:23 p.m.
Fighter pilots tasked with intercepting the wayward flight said Hefner 鈥渨as laying and slumped completely over into the right seat and remained motionless throughout their observations,鈥 according to NTSB records. They did not observe any movement within the cabin area nor any shapes that resembled a person.
Once Hefner lost consciousness, the plane likely was directed along its path by autopilot 鈥渦ntil a point at which it was no longer able to maintain control,鈥 according to the report.
Lack of oxygen, called hypoxia, can affect people differently, but it is known to cause confusion, disorientation and diminished judgment and reactions, according to the report. A pilot would likely have between 30 seconds and 2 minutes to take corrective action. That time could be less if the depressurization is rapid.
鈥淗owever, gradual depressurization can be as dangerous or more dangerous than rapid depressurization because of its potential to insidiously impair a pilot鈥檚 ability to recognize and respond to the developing emergency,鈥 according to the report. 鈥淐ognitive impairment from hypoxia makes it harder for affected individuals to recognize their own impairment.鈥
The report noted that Hefner had several health issues and had been prescribed at least one medication that was potentially impairing but did not list those issues as contributing to the accident.
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