[BenLurkin]

Any knoweldgable FReepers able to speculate regarding this? Current focus seems to be on the 78 year old pilot and a possible health emergency.

I am certainly not knowledgeable, but suspect that something went wrong during the fueling process before it took off.

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

While 90 year old co-pilot was in the loo.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I would think that in order for this Lear aircraft to go straight in at 600mph it would need to be under near full power to do so.

This might indicate a pilot health issue. But from 28000 feet, how could a co-pilot or someone else not respond and right the aircraft?

Unless the pilot was healthy and locked everyone out of the cockpit intentionally. Just speculating.

[Obama_Is_Sabotaging_America]

Fuel was my first thought, too.. But age might be factor. Does anyone know what would happen if most of the 6 on board suddenly moved to one end of the plane or the other? There’s no ‘gliding’ in a Lear Jet. They fall like a rock when they lose power, just like that F/A-18 over San Diego that landed on a house. I’d rather be in a Cessna or other old school ‘floater’.

[pabianice]

O2 deprivation/hypoxia.

[Blood of Tyrants]

The age and health of the pilot is certainly a plausible cause, but truthfully we will never know.

[Aria]

Supposedly there was a 20 year old co-pilot. This is a 2 pilot airplane. My husband used to fly one and it was a little rocket. It was also skittish because of it’s size.

This was an old plane and possibly not properly maintained -owned by a questionable operator who had previous issues with a plane being siezed for drug running. We are in the aviation business and it sounds like a mechnical problem to me - if the auto pilot was on and there was no mechanical issues it would have flown until it ran out of gas the way Payne Stewart’s plane did.

[Hulka]

Just guessing. . . Possible stroke/heart-attack given the age of the pilot, or as it has happened in the past, the pilot's O2 system malfunctions and he passes out (just guessing. . because that is what we do here). Regardless the cause, the pilot slumps over and his body pushes the yoke forward into a dive. The passengers in the back are NOT strapped in and float to the ceiling and never can get a hold of anything to pull themselves to the cockpit and take copntrol. . .or, they too, were passed out due to lack of O2 at altitude and never knew what hit them.

Just guessing (former fighter pilot and USAF mishap investigator, here).

[Gamecock]

28K feet? Loss of cabin pressure?