Pilot Declares Emergency Because Of Extreme Hypoxia

I got this clip from the NATCA Archie Awards, where NATCA gives out awards for the best ATC. http://www.natca.org/mediacenter/Archie2009-Audio-Transcripts.msp

Full Description:

Over the radio, Jay McCombs tried hard to understand the slow, slurring words muffled among the blaring sirens sounding in the background. The radio was poor, and the pilot difficult to understand, leaving only unintelligible transmission and uncontrollable noise to be heard.




Controllers at Cleveland Center were now faced with the complex and difficult task of deciphering the message if they had any chance of finding a solution. The critical diagnosis that was to come would make all the difference in securing the safety of the Kalitta Learjet, KFS66.




The events unfolded on July 26, 2008 when McCombs accepted the hand-off of KFS66, which appeared to have a stuck mike creating incomprehensible transmissions. Unclear to those in the Center, however, was that the co-pilots arm was all the while moving violently and uncontrollably on the other end as the captain worked hard to hand fly the aircraft.




Through the help of another pilots translation, Jay learned that the aircraft had declared an emergency. The plane was quickly changing altitude and McCombs immediately began to suggest closer airports, only to receive no reply.




Amid the chaos to translate the captains words, fellow controller Stephanie Bevins turns on the receiver so that she can now hear the pilot with her own headset. As she thinks through the symptoms in her head, she concludes that he must be hypoxic, a serious condition involving lack of oxygen due to pressurization problems. She knows immediately that they must descend the aircraft.




Following Bevins initiative, McCombs begins bringing the aircraft to the lowest altitude available in order to alleviate the possible oxygen deprivation. Unable to answer questions, the pilot is only able to respond to direct commands that the controllers now begin to voice. Descend and maintain, they repeat.




Remarkably, the captains inability to turn on autopilot requires him to have to work in order to fly the airplane, keeping him conscious and the plane airborne. The pilots words gradually become more understandable, and around 11,000 feet, he returns to normal and confirms that he had, indeed, been suffering from hypoxia.




Without Bevins and McCombs, there is no telling what would have happened. Bevins diagnosis made all the difference to the fate of the passengers, and without McCombs, the necessary actions to solve the problem would not have been taken to get the aircraft down safely. Various individuals were involved in the assistance of KFS66, clearly stated by McCombs who says that the entire area (Area 5) worked extremely well as a team.




Seeing that this is amazing story embodied by unusual and startling circumstances, it is clear why this case study has not only been chosen as an Archie winner, but also as a classroom teaching aid at the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute in Oklahoma City.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Archie Awards
• Hypoxia
• ATC
• Emergency
• Pilots
• Cleveland Center
• Flying

[MrPrankStyle]

Unable to control altitude. Unable to control airspeed. Unable to control heading.

Other than that, everything A-OK!

Thank god that was the only thing wrong!

[dcbuhrman]

They must of had the fish.

[foxdmulder]

@ScudRunnR the old way of doing it was to roll the wings from left to right at 5 degree bank and turn on and off wing lights

[inodesnet]

@LUpilot2012 ..It is my opinion that the only way to get the airplane to a lower altitude would be to override the captain by use of physical force. When the captain requested higher altitudes, the first officer and I strongly protested, both verbally and by hand signals. These protests were repeated at least three times during the climb...All protests were disregarded by the captain....

[Reno50524]

actually i think Killata is drunk.

[Reno50524]

I dont think 7700 would help Scud

[mceyran]

@ScudRunnR Squawk (= set your transponder code to) 7700

[miguelsaez340]

any part of the aircraft or the crew i believe he says

this is stoning :O great video!

[icemachine79]

Search for "Kalitta 66" and the first link is the NTSB report. Basically what happened is the plane took off with a faulty emergency door. Obviously it couldn't stay pressurized but the captain decided to continue the flight anyway so the crew donned their oxygen masks. Once it reached altitude hypoxia set in for the captain (but not the FO or FE) and he wouldn't relinquish the controls. Eventually the co-pilot was able to take over and landed the plane in Cincinnati.

[LUpilot2012]

So the second pilot was the co pilot? He seemed coherent why didn't he just take over if the captain was suffering from Hypoxia that bad?

[ScudRunnR]

How do you declare an emergency with your flight controls??

[SlamDuncDrummer]

@ScudRunnR - FL330 = 33,000 feet.