Rochester
By: Katie Cummings Text size: +-
Rochester: Hypoxia Cited as Possible Cause to Crash in the Caribbean
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BUFFALO,N.Y. -- Recovery efforts will continue Saturday off the coast of Jamaica, where a small plane with a Rochester couple on board crashed Friday afternoon.
According to NORAD, Larry Glazer and his wife Jane may have been suffering from hypoxia. Experts said it occurs when reaching high altitude.
'Low oxygen pressure or low air pressure, like being on top of a high mountain, like Mt. Everest, and without supplemental oxygen, the body starts to shut down,' said Calspan Aerospace Vice President Brian Ernisse. 'You don't necessarily feel like it's happening. The symptoms are identical to being drunk initially.'
'It's incredible, within minutes, depending on your altitude, he begins slurring his speech, his vision becomes obscured but he feels fine, he says, until he falls asleep,' said Bob Miller, flight instructor.
According to Aviation International News, Glazer had logged 5,000 hours in TBMs, the plane he was flying. With that experience, he may not have known what was happening and wouldn't be trained to notice.
'They put you in a pressure chamber and evacuate the pressure and make you hypoxic,' said Ernisse, 'Many of these pilots like small corporate pilots or not big commercial airline or military pilots don't have that kind of training so they've never been hypoxic they don't know what it's like.'
At one point, it's estimated that Glazer was cruising at an altitude of 25,000 feet. Miller said this would leave a small window to recover.
'At 22,000 feet, a sudden loss of oxygen, you would have maybe 15 minutes. At 30,000 feet, on the other end; you would have less than 3 minutes,' said Miller.
While it's still unclear what happened, Miller said the sudden loss of pressure could be due to any number of factors.
'A mechanical problem with the pressurization system or a valve that actually opens and controls cabin pressure became defective and for some reason was allowing (in) air; a seal in the cabin some place breaking loose,' said Miller.
Miller said the plane would have been on autopilot and able to navigate without a pilot until it ran out of gas.
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