By Alexandra Skores, CNN
Washington (CNN) — 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.
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.
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.
Hypoxia related to altitude likely explains the incapacitation of those on board, the NTSB’s report said. Hypoxia is a shortage of oxygen in the blood.
“According to the FAA Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, impairing effects from hypoxia are often vague and are experienced differently by different individuals; they include confusion, disorientation, diminished judgment and reactions, worsened motor coordination, difficulty communicating and performing simple tasks, a false sense of well-being, diminished consciousness, and, if conditions aren’t remedied or mitigated, death,” the report said.
CNN’s Pete Muntean contributed to this report
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