A private jet lost control in midair causing a “near vertical descent” and bursting into flames on a Virginia mountain, a federal report released Wednesday reported.
The preliminary findings of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the body leading the investigation, have not yielded any concrete conclusions about the possible causes of the accident. Federal investigators also failed to salvage emergency data or voice recordings from the plane’s cockpit. Despite these inconclusive findings, the plane’s owner theorizes that a lack of oxygen may have caused the crash.
Before crashing in Virginia, the plane took an erratic route, flying over Long Island in New York and Washington DC, some of the most restricted airspace in the nation. This irregular activity alarmed the US military, which ordered six fighter jets to intercept the aircraft. This was the cause of the sonic boom that alarmed residents of the region earlier in the month.
A loud explosion-like sound caused panic in the DMV region linked to an event that led to a private plane crashing in Virginia after crossing restricted airspace over Washington, DC. Here what is known.
According to the NTSB report, at the beginning of the flight the pilot identified as Jeff Hefner by the owner of the jet, was in regular communication with air traffic controllers and was authorized to climb to 10,000 meters of altitude; 15 minutes after the plane climbed, he lost contact with the control tower.
The plane’s cockpit was destroyed by the impact of the crash, while debris was left fragmented and scattered around a main crater, the NTSB said. Maintenance inspection records indicated the plane was equipped with a cockpit voice recorder, according to the report, although the aircraft was not required to have a flight data recorder, which monitors things like altitude, airspeed, air and direction
John Rumpel, the owner of the plane, claimed that his daughter Adina Azarian, his granddaughter, the nanny they had hired for him, along with the pilot, were victims in the crash along with the plane’s pilot. Earlier this month, Rumpel theorized with The Associated Press that the pilot likely lost consciousness from lack of oxygen.
According to Rumpel, Hefner had recent physical exams and had not reported any alarming medical conditions.
“The most likely scenario at this point is a pressurization failure or misconfiguration of the pressurization system,” concluded Alan Diehl, a retired aviation psychologist with the Federal Aviation Administration.
