Another Plane & Suspected Hypoxia

[Palehorse]

A US aircraft flying from Rochester NY to Naples FLA became unresponsive, and eventually US Fighters were dispatched to check on them; the pilot was slumped behind the controls, the windows frosted over, and the aircraft was on auto-pilot. It eventually crashed short of Jamaica.

This was a brand new aircraft, 2014, and minus a mid-air collision with something, I'm not real sure how an aircraft loses cabin pressure; especially when it is a new one. Failure of one or more components is obviously the issue here, and I am thinking the FAA may impose some new regulations surrounding checks on these??

http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/05/us/norad-air-threat/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

[The Troll]

A US aircraft flying from Rochester NY to Naples FLA became unresponsive, and eventually US Fighters were dispatched to check on them; the pilot was slumped behind the controls, the windows frosted over, and the aircraft was on auto-pilot. It eventually crashed short of Jamaica.

This was a brand new aircraft, 2014, and minus a mid-air collision with something, I'm not real sure how an aircraft loses cabin pressure; especially when it is a new one. Failure of one or more components is obviously the issue here, and I am thinking the FAA may impose some new regulations surrounding checks on these??

http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/05/us/norad-air-threat/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

  Anything made by human hands, a thing made of so many parts can and will fail.     There is a stick shaker if the plane is to slow, they need a horn that alerts the pilots when there is a drop in air pressure.     As for a pilot checking a plane in a walk around there is no way to check the air bleed from engine or a way to see inside the parts.  I hope it never happens again.   

[Exterminator]

The pilot knew he was losing pressure and requested clearance to decrease his altitude.  I expect there will be a discussion about whether or not he made it clear he had an emergency and how long it took ATC to respond to those requests.

[The Troll]

The pilot knew he was losing pressure and requested clearance to decrease his altitude.  I expect there will be a discussion about whether or not he made it clear he had an emergency and how long it took ATC to respond to those requests.

  The pilot of a plane is pilot in command and he has the right to do what he thinks is best for his plane and  passengers.  He can disallow anything the ATC tells him to do.  His safety and his passengers comes first and he can do what he wants to, to save his life and passengers lives because he is there and they aren't..   

[Exterminator]

And if the pilot deviates from the controllers' instructions causing a collision with another aircraft?

[Locutus]

Being a pilot myself, had I found myself in that situation, and felt it urgent to descend, I would have simply declared an emergency to the controller and initiated a descent.  Nobody will ever know how quickly the cabin depressurized and why the pilots didn't don their oxygen masks to prevent unconsciousness.

[Palehorse]

Being a pilot myself, had I found myself in that situation, and felt it urgent to descend, I would have simply declared an emergency to the controller and initiated a descent.  Nobody will ever know how quickly the cabin depressurized and why the pilots didn't don their oxygen masks to prevent unconsciousness.

Exactly. One of my very first questions is why didn't they put the masks on?

[Henry Hawk]

Exactly. One of my very first questions is why didn't they put the masks on?

I was reading about this, and more than likely is was an inexperienced pilot...research by the US Air Force shows 80 per cent of pilots with no experience of decompression wait as long as 15 seconds to respond correctly to a loss of cabin pressure...If they were traveling near 40,000 ft, they only had about 15 seconds before the lost consciousness.

[Locutus]

Data on flightaware.com indicate their filed altitude was 28,000' and they only got down to 25,000' when they asked for a descent.  After that, it was apparent lights out for them as the plane continued at that altitude until its fall into the sea offshore of Jamaica. 

[The Troll]

I was reading about this, and more than likely is was an inexperienced pilot...research by the US Air Force shows 80 per cent of pilots with no experience of decompression wait as long as 15 seconds to respond correctly to a loss of cabin pressure...If they were traveling near 40,000 ft, they only had about 15 seconds before the lost consciousness.

  The man and his wife were experienced pilots.  How is was a fast turbine powered aircraft and surely these people were checked out by the company they bought this first class "new" plane off of.  But anything brand new that cost million of dollars and all of those parts, something could go bad.  It's to bad it happened at such a high altitude where there is not time to think.   

[The Troll]

  The man and his wife were experienced pilots.  How is was a fast turbine powered aircraft and surely these people were checked out by the company they bought this first class "new" plane off of.  But anything brand new that cost million of dollars and all of those parts, something could go bad.  It's to bad it happened at such a high altitude where there is not time to think.   

  Sorry I was wrong, this fine plane cost over $4 Million dollars.      It had all of the bells and whistles and still failed, not the primitive planes I flew.