Garmin makes a watch that has a built in oximeter.
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 ...
AOPA video warns of hypoxia dangers after Citation V crash
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4159519/posts
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.”...
Well, who wouldn’t?
Do they say why the jet lost pressure?
Shades of Payne Stewart.
L
Do these planes have oxygen masks?
“Do they say why the jet lost pressure?”
Headline??? /s
The NTSB report is preliminary, but answers most of the early speculation. I can’t source a link to the preliminary report itself and won’t be expending any more time on it.
Final report isn’t expected for another year.
From the source:
“Five things on the plane were overdue for maintenance inspections at the time of the crash, including a co-pilot oxygen mask, the NTSB found. An additional 26 problems were noted on the aircraft a month earlier, “including several related to the pressurization and environmental control system,” but the owner chose not to address them, the board reported. Two days before the crash, maintenance workers also saw the pilot’s oxygen mask was missing and oxygen levels were so low that passenger masks would not have worked.”
Exactly who/what I thought about.
I’m wondering who owned this aircraft.
Overdue maintenance.
Missing oxygen masks.
Low O2 levels.
One pilot.
For this type of aircraft, truly unreal.
(Do these planes have oxygen masks?)
Decompression takes place in less than 10 seconds depending on the altitude.
Payne Stewart Syndrome.
“Unreal”
I know. It seems like a lot is missing from this story.
Oddly, I’d forgotten about Stewart’s flight. Notable:
“In time, an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) would corroborate that hypothesis. It concluded that the probable cause of the accident was the incapacitation of the crew following a loss of cabin pressure. What prompted that was never established. The same NTSB report documented several instances of maintenance work related to cabin pressure being carried out on the plane in the months leading up to the accident but the NTSB was unable to determine whether or not they stemmed from a common or persistent problem.”
The Final Flight: The untold story of the crash that killed Payne Stewart
In our Citation, one flight deck crew is always wearing a mask. We alternate every ten minutes.
Another way in which flying is different from driving. Can’t stop by the side of the sky if your plane develops an engine problem or stalls. Can’t breathe on a plane? Can’t exactly open a window.
FTA ...
... The 69-year-old pilot, later identified as Jeff Hefner, was a retired commercial airline captain and had nearly 35,000 hours experience flying planes. He had some medical conditions, but the NTSB found no evidence of a high incapacitation risk or improper use of medications .
The jet was owned by Encore Motors of Melbourne, Florida. The owner’s daughter and 2-year-old granddaughter were on the aircraft when it crashed....
The owner of this aircraft...privately owned, by this car dealer .... has to feel horrific for not properly maintaining his aircraft. Why put your precious loved ones in such a situation?
Interesting. Is that due to regulations?
Curious: Did the industry ever develop anything from this technology?
We’ve read of incidents with that happening so our company made the rule that one person on the flight deck is wearing a mask.
Garmin makes a watch that has a built in oximeter.
With modern technology, you would think they could make the automatic pilot detect the lack of oxygen and descend to 5000 feet or so.
Right?
And transmit an automated message to ATC.
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