Posted on 05/13/2025 7:05:47 PM PDT by logi_cal869
A business jet that flew over Washington with no response from the pilot – prompting a chase by F-16s which caused a sonic boom – likely lost pressure, causing everyone onboard to pass out, according to the final report from the National Transportation Safety Board. The pilot and three passengers died in the crash.
On June 4, 2023, the Cessna Citation was flying from Elizabethton, in eastern Tennessee, to Long Island, New York when the pilot stopped responding to air traffic control.
The jet rose to 34,000 feet and flew over Long Island and then turned back to the southwest, flying over Washington and into Virginia.
When the US Air Force F-16s caught up with the plane, they could see someone motionless and slumped over in the cockpit and no movement in the cabin, CNN previously reported.
Minutes later, the Citation crashed into the forest near Montebello, Virginia, leaving a crater in the ground.
The NTSB found based on the lack of response to air traffic controllers, tracking data and the fighter jet pilots’ observations, it is “likely that the pilot of the accident airplane became incapacitated during the climb to cruise altitude.” The plane was then directed by the autopilot for another 300 miles until it was no longer able to maintain control.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
HEY! That's a GREAT idea ...
... unless you're over Colorado, because its mean elevation is 6800 feet.
In fact, six US states have a mean elevation of 5000 feet or higher. And 22 US states have mountain peaks in excess of 5000 feet high. So maybe we should just better leave that decision to the pilots.
Flying is an unnatural an inherently dangerous act. Simply traveling at 500 mph is deadly dangerous, too, whether you’re flying or not.
As Wilbur Wright said, “If you are looking for perfect safety, you will do well to sit on a fence and watch the birds.” If you expect flying ever to be completely safe, you’re in for a very long wait.
If it frightens you, maybe you should follow John Madden’s example and take the bus everywhere. And pray the driver doesn’t have a stroke on the way. Or the bus doesn’t stall on a railroad crossing. Or their isn’t a Palestinian Splodybot in the back seat with a pound of Semtex wrapped in 10d finishing nails.
Yes.
Wasn’t Payne Stewart’s plane at sufficient altitude w/o cabin pressure that pilots and passengers likely also froze after passing out?
Reminds me of a Louisiana airplane on a short hop flew East over the Southern US and crashed in the Atlantic back around 1980 or so.
If Charles Berlitz was still alive he could claim this one was, like he said about the Louisiana aircraft, “Mysteriously being pulled toward THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE!”
I would assume any aircraft that can fly above a certain level would have them but I don’t know for sure. When I was skydiving in the 1980s, I was going to participate in a jump over 15,000 feet which required everyone on the non-pressurized aircraft have their own oxygen supplies for the jump.
True. Wonder how many still remember it.
I recall that military jets sent to investigate Payne Stewart’s plane reported the planes windows were frosted over, but the cause of death was hypoxia. I taught with a police investigator who helped to identify the remains after the crash in northern South Dakota. Very difficult to identify anyone.
Thanks. I remember learning that it is cold at the altitude the Stewart plane was traveling on autopilot with passengers and crew incapacitated but wasn’t sure if it was cold enough to freeze the occupants solid during time until fuel ran out. In any case, they would have died from lack of breathable air first. Sad.
Wouldn’t a pilot be likely to decline a flight in an aircraft with those violations?
Good question.
Absolutely!
Would a pilot always be aware of those violations?
Well, with GPS they will know how far down it is to the ground. They can descend to a safe altitude for the area.
Before a flight I do a walk around with a mechanic, then I review the maintenance logs, after pre-flight checks, I power up the systems, then fire up the engines. Every thing has to be in the green before boarding passengers. One of us always has an oxyferrule going when at altitude.
Thank you for the answer. It has been a long time since that I have flown private. I always had great confidence in the pilots .
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