Witnesses say the pilot was slumped over
Three witnesses say the pilot of a business plane that took off from Tenessee flew over Washington DC then crashed in Virginia was slumped over as if unconscious. The Cessna Citation took off from Elizabethton, Tennessee, and was heading to Long Island’s MacArthur Airport. The millionaire owner of the plane revealed to news outlets that his daughter, a nanny, and 2-year-old granddaughter were on board.
Once it was over Long Island, the plane inexplicably turned around and began heading south, flying over Washington, D.C. just before crashing in Virginia, killing the pilot and the three passengers onboard. Experts suspect hypoxia a loss of conscientiousness due to a loss of oxygen in the cabin is what led to the accident. It took investigators several hours to hike to the crash site in the rural area near Montebello, about 60 miles southwest of Charlottesville, (due to the rugged terrain).
Investigators are seeking answers
“By far the most likely suspect is some sort of a pressurization issue,” said William Waldock, a professor of safety science who teaches aircraft accident investigation at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona.“It went up to 34,000 feet and basically stayed there — up, all the way back,” “The turn (away from New York and back south) is a little perplexing. But it kind of depends on what kind of autopilot system the aircraft had.”
Investigators will be looking into the time frame of when the pilot became unresponsive and what caused the aircraft to fly the path that it did
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