American Plane With Unresponsive Pilot Flies Over Cuba

The fighters broke away before the aircraft overflew Cuba

An American aircraft whose pilot has been unresponsive for hours was escorted by U.S. military F-15 fighters over the south Atlantic Ocean on Friday until the aircraft entered Cuban airspace, officials said. The fighter planes, operating under the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), broke away from the potentially troubled aircraft before it entered that country’s airspace. The F-15s returned to base for refueling while NORAD continued to track the plane as it quickly overflew Cuba while flying to the south.
Those aboard the aircraft, a SOCATA TBM-700 turboprop with tail number N900KN, may be suffering from hypoxia, NORAD said. Hypoxia can disable pilots and passengers aboard high-flying aircraft that lose cabin pressurization if they don’t engage supplemental oxygen systems before they’re rendered unconscious.
The aircraft left Rochester, New York Friday morning with a planned destination of Naples, Florida. Its last heading change was over North Carolina, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware.
It’s possible the aircraft’s crew is incapacitated from hypoxia and the plane is operating purely on pre-configured autopilot settings. When a U.S. military pilot attempts to make contact with a pilot who isn’t responding over the radio, he or she can attempt a series of hand signals or aircraft movements, such as a shaking of the wings, to establish basic communication.
Source: time