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Days after a small private airplane veered off course, was met by F-16 fighter jets, and eventually plummeted into a forest — killing four people including a Keller Williams agent — officials are exploring the possibility that a lack of oxygen in the cabin may have led to the tragedy.
Adina Azarian
The Cessna 560 Citation V crashed into Virginia’s George Washington National Forest Sunday afternoon. Long Island-based Keller Williams agent Adina Azarian died in the crash, as did her 2-year-old daughter, their nanny, and the plane’s pilot.
The crash happened after the plane and pilot became unresponsive. Officials didn’t initially say why that may have happened, but on Wednesday unnamed sources told multiple media outlets that investigators were looking at a lack of oxygen inside the plane as a cause.
A lack of oxygen can lead to a condition known as hypoxia, which can impair judgement, render a person unconscious and eventually lead to death. The risk of hypoxia rises at higher altitudes, where the atmosphere is thinner. Planes, including both commercial jets and the Cessna involved in Sunday’s crash, pressurize their cabins so that passengers and crew have enough air to breathe.
However, if a high-altitude plane’s cabin depressurizes, people inside can quickly begin suffering the effects of a lack of oxygen.
A Cessna similar to the one that crashed, killing Azarian and others. Credit: Nicholas.T.Ansell, PA Images and Getty Images
According to a statement the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) provided to Inman earlier this week, the Cessna was flying at about 34,000 feet — comparable to the cruising altitude of a commercial jet — for most of its flight.
The NTSB statement further notes that the plane initially left an airport in…