NutLoose
20th Apr 2012, 11:40
Suspected hypoxia, poor guy
A Cessna 421C aircraft, N48DL, departed Slidell Airport, LA at 06:40 local time on a flight to Sarasota, FL across the Gulf of Mexico. It reached an altitude of FL280 some 38 minutes later.
N48DL remained at this altitude for twenty minutes, when it began a gradual climbing turn to the right to about 30.800 feet.
From then on the airplane began to fly left hand 360-degree turns.
Because the pilot failed to respond to air traffic control, two Air National Guard McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle fighter jets (159th Fighter Wing) departed New Orleans, reaching the aircraft at about 09:30 local time. The ANG crew also were unable to make contact with the pilot.
The airplane continued flying circles, attaining an altitude of FL330 approximately four hours into the flight. N48DL then began to descend at an increasing rate until it came down in the Gulf of Mexico, some 170 miles off the Florida coast.
AUDIO: Plane goes down in Gulf after pilot incapacitated - NBC-2.com WBBH News for Fort Myers, Cape Coral & Naples, Florida (http://www.nbc-2.com/story/17585126/pilot-unresponsive-plane-circling-over-gulf-of-mexico)
ASN Aircraft accident 19-APR-2012 Cessna 421C N48DL (http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=145154)
A Cessna 421C aircraft, N48DL, departed Slidell Airport, LA at 06:40 local time on a flight to Sarasota, FL across the Gulf of Mexico. It reached an altitude of FL280 some 38 minutes later.
N48DL remained at this altitude for twenty minutes, when it began a gradual climbing turn to the right to about 30.800 feet.
From then on the airplane began to fly left hand 360-degree turns.
Because the pilot failed to respond to air traffic control, two Air National Guard McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle fighter jets (159th Fighter Wing) departed New Orleans, reaching the aircraft at about 09:30 local time. The ANG crew also were unable to make contact with the pilot.
The airplane continued flying circles, attaining an altitude of FL330 approximately four hours into the flight. N48DL then began to descend at an increasing rate until it came down in the Gulf of Mexico, some 170 miles off the Florida coast.
AUDIO: Plane goes down in Gulf after pilot incapacitated - NBC-2.com WBBH News for Fort Myers, Cape Coral & Naples, Florida (http://www.nbc-2.com/story/17585126/pilot-unresponsive-plane-circling-over-gulf-of-mexico)
ASN Aircraft accident 19-APR-2012 Cessna 421C N48DL (http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=145154)