Small Plane Strays over Gulf of Mexico, Pilot Unconscious...Circles Repeatedly

The 421 is a high alt pressurized piston GA which means he was circling at above 25K ft. The military interceptors would have been able to see into the cockpit unless they were fogged over. If the latter, the pilot is dead even with the Gulf warming up and the updrafts keeping the plane in a nearly endless glide (soft landing).

I am in the Tampa Bay area, so this is semi-local to me on the landing end. What we've been hearing on local news is that the cabin windshield was iced over, and that his altitude fluctuated between 25,000 feet & 35,000 feet. I'm not sure what happened to this poor man. He may have have a heart attack & ended up on the yoke, stagnating it at the altitudes he was circling in. Or he may have become horribly confused & did the worst possible thing--ignored his instruments & ascended in altitude. Either way, the iced windshield screams cabin decompression. That likely happened when the plane went too high in altitude. Which could have rendered him unconscious if this was human error. Or it could have happened after he had a medical emergency & was unconscious. At this point, no one knows, speculations are abound.

Originally posted by Nyiah
I am in the Tampa Bay area, so this is semi-local to me on the landing end. What we've been hearing on local news is that the cabin windshield was iced over, and that his altitude fluctuated between 25,000 feet & 35,000 feet. I'm not sure what happened to this poor man. He may have have a heart attack & ended up on the yoke, stagnating it at the altitudes he was circling in. Or he may have become horribly confused & did the worst possible thing--ignored his instruments & ascended in altitude. Either way, the iced windshield screams cabin decompression. That likely happened when the plane went too high in altitude. Which could have rendered him unconscious if this was human error. Or it could have happened after he had a medical emergency & was unconscious. At this point, no one knows, speculations are abound.

I'm also thinking that he had the instinct to put himself in autopilot to circle knowing that someone would notice and check it out. Too long tho...ran out of fuel and the autopilot disengaged, he caught a pillowy draft and glided in.

Only my guess.

Peace

It looks like the plane was not on autopilot but just trimmed out, leading to the big circles and changes in altitude after the pilot stopped piloting. .

reply to post by earthdude


It was a 421.......and, therefore might have had an autopilot......even if only the most basic of A/P.

Since the track (ground track) is on FlightAware (and the news picked it up....AND he was over the Gulf of M.......)...then, he was on an IFR Flight Plan.


I will watch this thread, to see more as it develops......

There was another incident like this a while ago. Pilot was having some kind of personal or financial troubles and decided to try and fake his own death. He was flying over Florida and pointed his plane towards the gulf of Mexico before bailing out and parachuting into a swamp.

Is there any biographical information about the pilot in this current incident?

reply to post by Cauliflower


A Cessna 421 has a door that is unlikely to be opened, in flight......(although, I guess......if one were determined enough????....after it was de-pressurized, perhaps.......BTW, the Cessna 421 is a pressurized airplane....or "CAN" be pressurized, if you wish to fly at altitudes that are above 10,000 feet, for more than 30-minutes, and not use supplemental oxygen....(which is the"regulation).

I have to check the "FlightAware" info, to see his altitude.......but, at that point in the Gulf ?? (Where radar contact was lost?)......pretty 'gutsy', if you wish to go with that scenario, as you proposed......(I mean......to actually "fake" your own death, you just MAY wish to do it in.....oh, I dunno.....the Caribbean, maybe?? Where there are MANY more little 'out-of-the-way' islands.....as compared to the center of the GOM!!!!!!

EDIT.....OK.....just re-listened to the YT video.......(again, I will fully check the FlightAware info).........based on the CNN reporter's comments, and the reports of the windows being "iced over" (per the interceptor pilots' comments).......this is a very, very similar case to the golfer Payne Stewart incident (and tragic death)......it seems.

The airplane, in this case (like the Payne Stewart LearJet) de-pressurized, for some reason.......and, the pilot (single pilot, maybe, in this instance) did NOT recognize, fast enough......either it was a "slow" de-pressurization) (Larger jets, airliners especially have warning systems, to include AUDIBLE< and VISUAL alerts, whenever the cabin pressure goes above 10,000 feet. I don't think a Cessna 421 has such a system, to alert the pilot).....or it was very rapid......there is a term we learn called "Time of Useful Consciousness"........and, below 41,000 feet (a piston-engined Twin Cessna....even with turbo-charged engines, as the C-421 has.... normally never goes that high....not "intentionally", anyhow).....below 41,000 feet the "TUC" is....well, it varies.....but, at "worst" case, it's 30 seconds......we have "quick-donning" oxygen masks on airliners......a Cessna?? Not the case......although......well, if it was gradual, and the pilot caught off-guard?? (OR, if he had another medical issue that interfered with his cognitive abilities???)...well......

To add more.......when there is a gradual cessation of proper oxygen, due to altitude.....it is called "hypoxia".....(you can Google or Bing that)......

I can explain it here, or just let everyone who's interested look it up for themselves..........

Sounds like what happened to golfer Payne Stewart...pilot passed out/died and plane kept flying.

Anyhow i'd say the pilot is fish food now.