Airline pilot here. As someone else mentioned, this brought back memories of the Payne Stewart crash. That one hurt, because I loved that guy and just watched him play in the tournament very shortly before the crash.
If I'm not mistaken, there was only one pilot on board the Cessna that crashed in Virginia. That model of citation I believe, is certified to be flown single pilot.
The depressurization is the only thing that makes sense to me. If the pilot had a heart attack and slumped over, the passengers would've noticed. One of them would've tried to do something, that either would have alerted air, traffic control, or made the plane crash more quickly. I'm thinking at a minimum one of the passengers would've got a radio call out. Just pick up the microphone and start talking, someone would've heard.
Now if the passengers were conscious, as soon as the F-16s pulled up next door, you would think the passengers will be waving out the window frantically. They weren't.
It's just sad. Lots can go wrong. As said, when you have a rapid depressurization, you only have a few seconds to get your mask on. It only works if you put it on in time, and this is assuming the oxygen bottle on the airplane was pressurized. Back in my corporate days, there were a timer to where I've cut the oxygen bottle, empty, or very low on the preflight. Not saying this is what happened, but you have to pay attention to these things.
The oxygen bottle for the Payne Stewart flight was turned off. It's part of the preflight. You have to check that before you takeoff. You can't turn the bottle on from inside the airplane. Even if you could, you won't have time in a rapid depressurization scenario. You'll be out by then.
Last edited by Det-Sog; 06-06-23 at 14:39.
U.S. Army vet. -- Retired 25 year LEO.
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