A lack of oxygen likely incapacitated the pilot and three passengers of a private jet that flew over Washington DC in 2023, triggering a military response, a final report from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has revealed.
The incident, which saw fighter jets scrambled to intercept the unresponsive aircraft, was likely caused by a loss of cabin pressure, according to the NTSB's findings released Tuesday.
While the precise reason for the pressure loss remains undetermined, investigators highlighted several maintenance issues with the Cessna Citation jet.
These included a missing pilot-side oxygen mask and supplemental oxygen levels at their minimum serviceable limit. The report indicates that these factors contributed to the oxygen deprivation that ultimately incapacitated those on board.
“At that level, oxygen would not have been available to the airplane occupants and passenger oxygen masks would not have deployed in the event of a loss of pressurization,” according to the report.
It concluded that, “Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s and owner/operator’s decision to operate the airplane without supplemental oxygen.”
Four people died in the June 4, 2023 accident. They were pilot Jeff Hefner, 69; New York real estate broker Adina Azarian, 49; Azarian’s 2-year-old daughter Aria; and Evadnie Smith, 56, who worked as live-in nanny for Aria. Prior to the crash, Azarian, Aria and Smith were in North Carolina to visit Azarian’s adoptive parents.
Hefner stopped responding to air traffic control instructions within minutes of taking off from Elizabethton, Tennessee, at 1:13 p.m. The plane flew to New York, near its destination at Long Island’s MacArthur Airport. Inexplicably, the plane then turned around and flew a straight path over D.C.
Fighter jets sent after it caused a loud sonic boom that was heard across the capital region as they raced to catch up. The plane then plunged almost straight down in into a mountain near Montebello, Virginia, and burst into flames at 3:23 p.m.
Fighter pilots tasked with intercepting the wayward flight said Hefner “was laying and slumped completely over into the right seat and remained motionless throughout their observations,” according to NTSB records. They did not observe any movement within the cabin area nor any shapes that resembled a person.
Lack of oxygen, called hypoxia, can affect people differently, but it is known to cause confusion, disorientation, and diminished judgment and reactions, according to the report. A pilot would likely have between 30 seconds and 2 minutes to take corrective action. That time could be less if the depressurization is rapid.
“However, gradual depressurization can be as dangerous or more dangerous than rapid depressurization because of its potential to insidiously impair a pilot’s ability to recognize and respond to the developing emergency,” according to the report. “Cognitive impairment from hypoxia makes it harder for affected individuals to recognize their own impairment.”
The report noted that Hefner had several health issues and had been prescribed at least one medication that was potentially impairing but did not list those issues as contributing to the accident.
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