Tue, Jun 19, 2007
States Pilot Error, Oxygen Deprivation Led To Fatal Crash
The
National Transportation Safety Board ruled this week the pilot's
failure to ensure an adequate supply of supplemental oxygen led to
the March 17, 2006 downing of a Beechcraft Baron 56TC in West
Virginia.
As ANN reported, William
Cammack was enroute from Glendive, MT to Minnesota's St. Paul
Downtown Airport when air traffic controllers lost contact with the
pilot, as his plane continued to fly on course at FL270.
The Wisconsin National Guard deployed two F-16s to intercept the
aircraft after it flew over the Twin Cities area, and turned
southeast. Two other F-16s met the aircraft as it crossed into
Michigan. Those fighters flanked the Baron throughout the remainder
of its flight, and attempted to contact the pilot several times
with no success.
After about two hours, the F-16 pilots could only watch
helplessly as the Baron evidently ran out of fuel, and went down in
a clearing near Winfield, WV. The crash missed a nearby house by
about 250 feet.
The NTSB states Cammack's logbooks indicated he preferred to fly
in the flight levels for engine efficiency. His aircraft was
equipped with an onboard supplemental oxygen system, connected to a
nasal cannula that was found near the pilot's body. Cammack was
wearing an oxygen mask, connected to a non-aviation-grade portable
oxygen tank.
Investigators found both systems intact, but empty. There were
no records of either system being serviced throughout Cammack's
multi-day trip.
"The pilot's inadequate preflight preparation to ensure adequate
supply of supplemental oxygen, and his inadequate in-flight
planning and decision making, which resulted in exhaustion of his
oxygen supply, and incapacitation from hypoxia during cruise
flight" likely caused the crash, the NTSB said in its report.
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