Small plane with unresponsive pilot circling over Gulf of Mexico

Sounds like it.

Question: Do pressurized planes flying at high altitude not carry some sort of back up oxygen system? A tiny portable tank and mask would offer plenty of time to get back down to a lower altitude.

http://www.wdam.com/story/17585511/faa-loses-contact-with-plane-over-gulf

 

look at the profile:
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N48DL/history/20120419/1230Z/KASD/KSRQ

 

yes, don't recall if it was catastrophic failure or failure of the system to maintain proper cabin altitude causing everyone to nod off thinking they were maintaing proper pressure

pressurizsation systems have an outflow valve that controls cabin altitude, this valve will foul if not cleaned on a regular basis...

 

yes, there is an internal oxygen system, just as on commercial aircraft, pilots should have quick access to masks ( usually wear them loose around their necks ) in case of catistrophic failure, it's the slow leak / failure to maintain proper cabin altitude that gets most... I've forgaotten the reg for must wear altitude... I wear mine full on when above 18000 ft or in high performance mode... I'm thinking about going for a joy ride in a F-5...

 

Supposedly down now in the gulf.

Hope the pilot is ok, doesn't look good.

 

looked at the flight profile in above post...the pilot was unresponsive in the decent...the profile shows the plane repeatedly stalling then decending until off the radar... unfortunately he is gone

 

OMG. That's terrible. Poor guy - it's just tragic to see this.

Jedi
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http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/04/19/pilot-unresponsive-as-small-plane-circles-above-gulf/?hpt=hp_t2

It says the windows were fogged over, does that have to do with pressurization?

 

it can, the cabin is not able to retain any heat

 

421 at FL270? That's really pushing things.

I'm amazed that it was able to climb as high as it did (FL330, I believe).

 

Here's a news blurb from about 45 minutes ago:

"According to a report from the Associated Press, the Air Force pilots witnessed the aircraft, with iced-over windows, vacillating between 25,000 and 35,000 feet. The 421 is a pressurized piston twin with a service ceiling of around 30,000 feet and a regulatory ceiling of 28,000 feet. They are typically flown in the low flight levels.

According to that report, the airplane went down around noon approximately 120 miles West of Tampa, “landed softly” and proceed to float intact and upright. A Coast Guard helicopter attended to the crash, but there is no word yet as to the condition of the pilot, the sole occupant aboard."

That actually sounds promising..... (emphasis added by me)

Jedi

 

It's going to be pretty ironic if he drown. But it wouldn't be the first time.

 

Not looking good....

PENSACOLA, FLA. — Coast Guard crews saw no signs Thursday that the pilot of a small plane survived when his Cessna went down in the Gulf of Mexico about three hours after two F-15 fighter jets tried to make contact with him.

Coast Guard Chief John Edwards said the plane landed right-side up on the ocean surface and floating, but monitoring planes did not see a life raft deploy or anything to indicate the pilot — the lone person aboard — was alive. The Cessna 421C later started sinking sunk into the Gulf about 120 miles west of Tampa, Fla., in about 1,500 feet of water.

A Coast Guard cutter and rescue helicopter were en route to the crash site, but not expected to arrive before the plane was well submerged.

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said the plane was flying from Slidell, La., to Sarasota, Fla. She said controllers lost contact with the pilot at 9 a.m. The Coast Guard said it went down about 12:10 p.m.

Authorities have not identified the pilot. But Bill Huete, a mechanic who has worked in the past on the downed aircraft at Slidell Airport, identified him as Dr. Peter Hertzak, an OB-GYN who worked in the Slidell community just northeast of New Orleans.

"I met him years ago when he was looking to start flying again and bought this plane," said Huete.

Huete described Hertzak as an excellent pilot. "He flew by the book and he didn't scrimp on maintenance," Huete said.

 

The problem is that hypoxia sneaks up on you. All pressurized aircraft have oxygen systems and masks close at hand. However, if the altitude increases slowly, you may never realize that you needed oxygen. Eventually, you pass out.

Even worse, apparently (I have no 421 experience) the 421 cabin would be over 10,000 feet at FL270, and the cabin altitude light would already be turned on, even if everything is working correctly.

 

If he spent three hours at a cabin altitude FL270 or above, he's dead anyway. Or at least in a coma.

 

Ah. I didn't know that

It was really creepy "flight tracking" a flight that was doomed.

Poor guy....

Jedi

 

At 27,000 feet, the partial pressure of oxygen results in an O2 saturation level of about 20% according to this chart. Normal O2 saturation is above 93%.

If I read the explanation correctly, the curve kicks sharply over to the right at about 25,000 feet because at that altitude the partial pressure of atmospheric O2 relative to that in the bloodstream is such that oxygen starts diffusing out of the blood rather than into the blood. It goes downhill very quickly at that point.

http://www.avweb.com/news/aeromed/181893-1.html

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Thanks for that Yin. I never realized it was fatal THAT FAST.

Jedi

 

Iced over windows... almost exactly a Payne Stewart...

Except Stewart's was on autopilot and just stayed on course until fuel was gone. Flew S to N clear across the US w/ dead pilot/passengers... and iced over windows... Was a Citation, I think.

If this plane was on auto it might have ended up in the Atlantic.

 

It is an interesting subject, though, because people have climbed Mt. Everest (29,000 feet) without oxygen. However, they did a lot of training and acclimation before doing so.

I think going straight from sea level to 27,000 feet or above for 3 hours is bad news either way.

 

That's really interesting; according to the gas physics represented by the chart, it shouldn't be physiologically possible most of the time. However, I can see two possible conditions to enable it: 1) acclimation or blood packing to increase the red cell count as much as possible, and 2) selecting days to make the climb that have an exceptionally low density altitude (i.e. the air pressure is such that it has a lower effective altitude). If you can gain 3,000 - 5,000 feet lower effective altitude, then that should put you on a more feasible part of the curve.

 

the cabin altitude gauge in a 421 is located at the bottom edge of the panel and is not much larger than a half dollar coin... one has to concentrate to read it...it is easily ignored

when flying in higher altitudes one can track of how well the body is dealing with the lack of oxygen by monitoring the color of their finger nails... the finger nails will appear increasingly darker from lack of oxygen, one should decend or go to supplemental oxygen at first sign of change in color

 

Sorry to hear.

Sounds a lot like an incident in Australia in 2000. A King Air with pilot and 8 passengers on board climbed through their planned FL250 and the aircraft continued across Australia (left Perth and nearly reached Mt Isa) before running out of fuel and crashing (no survivors).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_Australia_Beechcraft_King_Air_crash

 

Must be a way to design & manufacture a simple "oxygen starvation" device to retrofit into pressurized aircraft? Is there no such device in existence? Something that would activate an audible alarm? There are numerous 'gas detection' sensors available; surely one could be re-engineered to sense a 'lack' of gas (oxygen)? What am I missing?