Roadside reflector posts8/11/2023 Investigators will also review the recordings of the pilot’s last communications with air traffic control. For instance, did he or she have training in the military to recognize the signs of low-cabin pressure? Were they a risk taker? What were the results of their last flight physical? They expected to be on the scene for at least three to four days.ĭiehl, the aviation psychologist, said investigators often dig deeply into a pilot’s background following a crash. On Monday, it took investigators several hours to hike into the rural area where the plane crashed about 60 miles (97 kilometers) southwest of Charlottesville. He said the emergency return destination would have been the airport in Elizabethton, Tennessee, where the flight took off from. Rumpel also said it is common practice for pilots to put their destination, along with an “emergency return destination” into the auto pilot system, which he said would explain why the plane turned around and headed south again once it flew over its destination of MacArthur Airport on Long Island. “To the best of my knowledge, the emergency masks never dropped,” he said. Rumpel said he wonders if a flashing light on the plane that should have warned the pilot that he was losing oxygen somehow malfunctioned. I wouldn’t have had my daughter and my grandbaby fly with him if he wasn’t,” Rumpel said Tuesday. Rumpel said Hefner had recently had a physical and he was not aware of any concerning medical conditions. Rumpel said he also believes the pilot, who he identified as Jeff Hefner, probably lost consciousness from a lack of oxygen. Rumpel told The Associated Press Tuesday that new radios had been installed in the plane two or three weeks ago and the aircraft was equipped with emergency oxygen. He said they were returning to their home on Long Island, after visiting his house in North Carolina. John Rumpel, the owner of the plane, said his daughter, Adina Azarian, 2-year-old granddaughter, Aria, and the girl’s nanny were the victims, along with the pilot. This caused a sonic boom heard in Washington, Maryland and Virginia. The plane took an erratic flight path - turning around over Long Island to fly directly over the nation’s capital - which prompted the military to scramble fighter jets. The officials had been briefed on the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of the military operation. Fighter jet pilots sent to intercept the business jet reported that its pilot appeared slumped over and unresponsive, three U.S.
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