ABC News - Hypoxia in Piaggio over Texas

Lucky they were not any higher.

I thought the Avantii cabin was pressurized... Mabey he needs to get his aircraft checked out

Excellent controller, she didnt think it twice and saved a fellow pilot.

Reminds of the Kalitta cargo flight that had a similar sitation. Here is a link to that one. Hypoxia is no joke! http://youtu.be/_IqWal_EmBg

That Controller deserves far more than a safety medal. Hoping the so-called sequestor does NOT interfere with safety ...

I've seen Pilots & Instructors begin slurring radio calls, display signs of dislexia, and just fall asleep at 11-12k in the cabin. It is serious business.

I was under the impression all Piaggios were 2 crews.. no?

Typical journalists reporting the story as if the airplane had no pressurized cabin which was obviously the underlying cause, i.e. loss of cabin pressure, as it was for Payne Stewart's fatal mishap. There should have been a warning sound when the cabin altitude exceeded 10,000 ft. Hypoxia is insidious.

I can recall an F-4 Phantom driver many years ago who suffered the same fate ending up in an ever tightening high-g death spiral because it's assumed he had let his mask hang off to one side of his helmet, something he was in the habit of doing, and never got it fully attached before being overcome by hypoxia with a failed cabin pressure system which had previously been griped. He was on a solo test flight with no backseater. He was being chased by another Phantom whose pilot pleaded for the other pilot to pullout of his spiral to no avail. It was all recorded and replayed during recurring safety stand downs for several years hence.

If you ever get a chance to take a 'ride' in the altitude chamber at NASA, it's quite an experience. The explosive decompression simulation is incredible! I felt like Superman blowing out a forest fire--my lungs felt like they'd never run out of air. When one removes their mask and is tasked to do simple things like math problems, writing signatures, etc. it's quite revealing how hypoxia can take you out within seconds...

I experienced hypoxia once - due to carbon monoxide poisoning from a cracked exhaust manifold. (The CO prevents hemoglobin from picking-up oxygen in the lungs.) The onset was insidious. I recognized I was losing my ability to focus and concentrate, but I couldn't i.d. the problem. By the time I was aligned with my distination airport, I was unable to determine whether it WAS an airport, or whether it was an interstate. I just knew I HAD to get on the ground. I was probably just moments from losing consciousness.

The media just has to throw alcohol in there somehow.

Story doesn't say why he had hypoxia. Did the cabin O2 fail?

Does anyone remember the Payne Stewart accident? Good thing this had a happy ending.

You never give up, do you?

And here in DFW Metroplex the news is stating that she will be sequestered as scheduled.