US Jets following Unresponsive Pilot

wretcheddomain

Just saw this on Flight Radar reports:

U.S. jets are following a TBM700 (N900KN) past Florida. Pilot unresponsive, was supposed to land in Florida.

Here's the plane:

http://www.flightradar24.com/N900KN/440c4fb

Weird :eek:

wretcheddomain

wretcheddomain wrote: »

Just saw this on Flight Radar reports:



Here's the plane:

http://www.flightradar24.com/N900KN/440c4fb

Weird :eek:

Most likely the pilot has passed away.

L1011

Appears that he requested a drop in flight level and was only granted some of the distance, going on comments elsewhere. Would lead me to suspect hypoxia.

Iranoutofideas

F15 fighters that were scrambled couldn't see into the cockpit as windows were frosted over according to CNN report.

fr336

Sorry for the silly question, but is such an occurance certain death or can they wake up again after a while and possibly rescue themselves?

GHOST MGG

its going to run out of fuel very close over jamaica or there abouts,the autopilot will switch off and it will start to lose speed and height probably in an uncontrolled descent,thought are with the pilot.the plane is registered to a larry glazer a property developer from rochester ny.TO answer your question above fr336 once hypoxia sets in and the brain and body is starved of oxygen it needs pretty much immediate treatment or its always fatal.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

http://www.skybrary.aero/index.php/Hypoxia

Might help you understand a bit better, I'm sorry to say in this case they would stay unconscious till fuel runs out and it crashes.

I can't answer if they suddenly got 100% oxygen what would happen.

GHOST MGG

If the pilot suffered hypoxia due to cabin depressurization over NC as suggested, he has been dead for a while.RIP.thoughts go out to the family

L1011

fr336 wrote: »

Sorry for the silly question, but is such an occurance certain death or can they wake up again after a while and possibly rescue themselves?

Generally death, if not and still comatose (unlikely), a return to a lower altitude might revive them somewhat but as this is unlikely to go lower until its out of fuel, it won't realistically be survivable.

This is Payne Stewart all over again, I suspect. Also happened to a passenger jet in Europe within the last 10-15 years, Helios Airlines I think.

Iranoutofideas

How does this happen?

fr336

MYOB wrote: »

Generally death, if not and still comatose (unlikely), a return to a lower altitude might revive them somewhat but as this is unlikely to go lower until its out of fuel, it won't realistically be survivable.

This is Payne Stewart all over again, I suspect. Also happened to a passenger jet in Europe within the last 10-15 years, Helios Airlines I think.

Yep that's the one Around 2006 I think

GHOST MGG

Plane has started to descend into the caribbean.:-(

partyatmygaff

The speed dropped nearly 80 knots to 153kt just a minute ago on Flight Radar. No change in vertical speed or altitude though.

Strumms

Dissapeared off FR

fr336

Strumms wrote: »

Dissapeared off FR

Was at 25,000ft last time I saw. Could be radar / fr24 issues. Sad, sad situation.

Planefinder still has it but heading the other way.

Disregard I think it's an FAA trail so most likely it's gone.

artanevilla

Planefinder has it executing a turn and flying back towards Cuba/US.

Strumms

It was showing at 25,000 until it dropped off. A minute or two before it did it showed the speed as -4 kt. Dont know if that would have been representing a possible stall when the engines gave out as it rapidly sped up to 154 after that...

joegriffinjnr

Very sad watching this unfold on FR. Thoughts with the pilot and his family.

David086

Has just crashed in Jamaica, very sad.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

jonnybegood

The Jamaica Defence Force Coast Guard is reporting that the unresponsive plane has crashed near Port Antonio Jamaica
The JDF says the plane crashed 14 miles North East of Port Antonio, Portland.

kerry4sam

Iranoutofideas wrote: »

How does this happen?

Excuse my ignorance please, but how does this actually happen?

My condolences to all who knew those involved in this incident.

Thanks,
kerry4sam

partyatmygaff

kerry4sam wrote: »

Excuse my ignorance please, but how does this actually happen?

My condolences to all who knew those involved in this incident.

Thanks,
kerry4sam

Above 12,500 ft or so, the partial pressure of oxygen in the atmosphere isn't sufficient to maintain respiration and consciousness. At 25,000 ft, the low levels of oxygen would knock someone out within seconds and death within minutes without supplemental oxygen.

For planes designed to fly at high altitude, the fuselages are designed to be air-tight to allow for cabin pressure control. When there's a breach in the fuselage of the aircraft the pressurised air within the cabin rushes out of the plane and the oxygen levels within the cabin drop to match that of the atmosphere as the pressure equalises.

What probably happened is the pilot lost cabin pressure and couldn't get his oxygen mask on in time. He lost consciousness, died and the plane remained flying on the heading/altitude set on the autopilot until it crashed in Jamaica. Had he managed to deliver some supplemental oxygen he could have made an emergency descent to 10,000 ft and would have survived. That's all speculation but it sounds likely.

A terrible tragedy all the same.

phonypony

He was at FL280, requested a descent to FL180, ATC could only initially give him FL250. By the time they gave him FL200 (only a couple minutes later), you can hear he was suffering the effects of hypoxia, he wasn't making sense.

http://archive-server.liveatc.net/kgso/ZTL-GSO-Sep-05-2014-1400Z.mp3

Requests descent at about 4.10. You can hear from his reply at 8.40 he's already confused.

MadYaker

RIP Was there anyone else on board?

fr336

phonypony wrote: »

He was at FL280, requested a descent to FL180, ATC could only initially give him FL250. By the time they gave him FL200 (only a couple minutes later), you can hear he was suffering the effects of hypoxia, he wasn't making sense.

http://archive-server.liveatc.net/kgso/ZTL-GSO-Sep-05-2014-1400Z.mp3

Requests descent at about 4.10. You can hear from his reply at 8.40 he's already confused.

Ah man, so very sad..I don't want to listen tbh (I would have in the past...old age getting to me)

phonypony

MadYaker wrote: »

RIP Was there anyone else on board?

3, according to the Coastguard/Fox News

Edit to add: NBC saying two on board, Larry Glazer and his wife.

L1011

It looks like Larry Glazer was the head of the owners club for Socata planes in the US and that was the first Socata TBM900 delivered to a customer.

PFL

Stupid question but in a situation like this why not just descend or alternatively set AP to descend and maintain 12,500 ft

phonypony

PFL wrote: »

Stupid question but in a situation like this why not just descend or alternatively set AP to descend and maintain 12,500 ft

That would be the procedure alright if it was a rapid decompression, etc. Do it, talk later. Maybe he didn't see it as being as serious as that or his judgement was already clouded by hypoxia.

Most likely a slow loss, therefore already suffering and brain function/decision making was slowing down.

partyatmygaff

PFL wrote: »

Stupid question but in a situation like this why not just descend or alternatively set AP to descend and maintain 12,500 ft

We don't know all that happened on board. He might have overestimated the amount of supplemental oxygen available or underestimated the problem.

PFL

Scary stuff, RIP to the pilot and all on board. Sounds like you'd have seconds to react.

MoyVilla9

Watching that live on Flightradar was awful.

Considering that he was approaching Jamaica when the plane went down, what are the chances that the plane was shot down?

Mech1

I have listened to the Liveatc on this.
I dont know if I want to be broadcasting this type of stuff on my feed if it ever happened in Ireland.

Mech1

Undecided big time

Xpro

Same thing happend last week, brand new cirrus sr22 was intercepted by two f16 when pilot onboard passed away. He later crashed into the ocean when the all fuel was gone. Another sad story.

http://dcnewsroom.blogspot.ie/2014/08/cirrus-aircraft-crashes-off-virginia-in.html?m=1

Danbo!

There was a previous case where the pilot managed to recover from hypoxia and there is a youtube clip of ATC, tbh it's pretty distressing listening to it, but you can tell from the pilots voice the type of effects hypoxia has on someone.

Tenger

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

That to me is an example of the negative side of our 24 hour news cycle driven media machine.

Tenger

PFL wrote: »

Scary stuff, RIP to the pilot and all on board. Sounds like you'd have seconds to react.

Well the expected time until lost of consciousness in a sudden/explosive decompression is 20-30 seconds. It could be less or more depending on your personal fitness levels.
The problem with a slow decompression is that you do not know it is happening....by the time you realise you cannot write, open your water bottle, remember how to use the radio, etc, it is already too late as your judgement will no longer recognise these symptoms as dangerous.

RZoran

I think if I had an aircraft that cost that much to purchase and keep running I would invest the $30-100 in a finger pulse oximeter. I know it wouldn't do much in rapid decompression situation but in a slow leak it seems like it would be an easy medical/safety device to have when the biggest problem with slow onset hypoxia is lack of clear thinking or sense or euphoria.