States Pilot Error, Oxygen Deprivation Led To Fatal Crash

The National Transportation Safety Board ruled this week the pilot's failure to ensure an adequate supply of supplemental oxygen led to the March 17, 2006 downing of a Beechcraft Baron 56TC in West Virginia.

As ANN reported, William Cammack was enroute from Glendive, MT to Minnesota's St. Paul Downtown Airport when air traffic controllers lost contact with the pilot, as his plane continued to fly on course at FL270.

The Wisconsin National Guard deployed two F-16s to intercept the aircraft after it flew over the Twin Cities area, and turned southeast. Two other F-16s met the aircraft as it crossed into Michigan. Those fighters flanked the Baron throughout the remainder of its flight, and attempted to contact the pilot several times with no success.

After about two hours, the F-16 pilots could only watch helplessly as the Baron evidently ran out of fuel, and went down in a clearing near Winfield, WV. The crash missed a nearby house by about 250 feet.

The NTSB states Cammack's logbooks indicated he preferred to fly in the flight levels for engine efficiency. His aircraft was equipped with an onboard supplemental oxygen system, connected to a nasal cannula that was found near the pilot's body. Cammack was wearing an oxygen mask, connected to a non-aviation-grade portable oxygen tank.

Investigators found both systems intact, but empty. There were no records of either system being serviced throughout Cammack's multi-day trip.

"The pilot's inadequate preflight preparation to ensure adequate supply of supplemental oxygen, and his inadequate in-flight planning and decision making, which resulted in exhaustion of his oxygen supply, and incapacitation from hypoxia during cruise flight" likely caused the crash, the NTSB said in its report.

FMI: Read The Complete NTSB Probable Cause Report