Their nonchalant demeanor belies the fact that they have survived a brush with death at an altitude above that of Mount Everest. Upon reaching a more oxygen-rich altitude of 11,000 feet, the pilots are suddenly both fully alert. She instructed her colleague to tell the Learjet to descend immediately. It was a second controller on duty who heard the exchange and recognized the symptoms of hypoxia. “Other than that,” he wrongly adds, “everything A-OK.” Unable to maintain heading,” the pilot radios in slow, stammered speech. The captain, dimly aware of a problem but not cognizant of the urgent need to don his oxygen mask, declared an emergency. By then the copilot’s convulsions had nudged the yoke, disconnecting the autopilot - and initiating a climb. When the controller queried the Learjet, the barely conscious captain sounded blind drunk. The copilot, slumped unconscious with his arms flailing uncontrollably, continuously keys the microphone, alerting the Cleveland Center controller on duty that something is amiss. Most chilling about the ATC recording of the 2006 incident is that the crew in all probability survived only by a quirk of fate. The captain in the left seat is barely hanging on. Suffering the effects of extreme hypoxia in the thin air at 32,000 feet, the copilot is passed out. The pilots of a Learjet 36 cruising high over Cleveland Center’s airspace are fighting a desperate battle for survival - but they don’t realize it.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |