Latest news with #Rumpel
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
NTSB releases report on 2023 plane crash in Nelson County that killed four
NELSON COUNTY, Va. (WFXR) – The NTSB has released its Aviation Investigation Final Report into the plane crash that killed four people at a remote location near the Blue Ridge Parkway in Nelson County in June 2023. The NTSB said the cause of the crash was pilot incapacitation due to loss of cabin pressurization leading to hypoxia or oxygen deprivation for all passengers, as well as several other contributing factors, including an inadequate oxygen system and a missing pilot-side oxygen mask (Page 2), issues with the pressurization and environmental control system (Pages 2 & 6), overdue inspections (Page 2), a delay in detecting pressurization failure (Page 2), and the decision to operate the aircraft with known maintenance issues (Page 2). ORIGINAL REPORTING | NTSB: Recovery 'challenging' at remote Augusta County plane crash site 'Pilot incapacitation due to loss of cabin pressure for undetermined reasons. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's and owner/operator's decision to operate the airplane without supplemental oxygen.' – (NTSB Report, Page 3) On June 4, 2023, a Cessna 560 Citation V took off from Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Tennessee with Florida business owner John Rumpel, his 2-year-old granddaughter, and their nanny. The trio was on their way to East Hampton, Long Island, after visiting Rumpel in North Carolina. According to the NTSB report, at 1:28 p.m., the 69-year-old pilot stopped responding at around 26,000 ft after controllers instructed the aircraft to stop its climb at 33,000 ft. 'At 1328, the controller amended the previous altitude clearance, instructing the pilot to stop the climb at 33,000 ft for crossing air traffic. The pilot did not respond.' – (NTSB Report, Page 4) After losing contact with the Cessna, a loud sonic boom was then heard in the DMV area as F-16 jets were scrambled from Joint Base Andrews to intercept the plane, as reported by the Washington Post. Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport performs full-scale crash test The Office of the Secretary of Defense stated that F-16s were 'authorized to travel at supersonic speeds' to intercept the unresponsive Cessna and that during the incident, they utilized flares to 'draw attention from the pilot.' The report continues and states that the USAF fighters intercepted the unresponsive aircraft and observed no cabin oxygen mask deployed, and one person was slumped over in the cockpit. The plane then entered a rapid, spiraling descent and crashed into the mountainous terrain around 3:30 p.m. 'The flight path showed little deviation in track angle or altitude until 1522, when the airplane entered a rapidly descending right spiral descent into terrain.' – (NTSB Report, Page 5) Small plane crashes at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia Search and rescue operations with the Virginia State Police located the wreckage around 8 p.m. on Sunday, June 4, 2023. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Washington Post
14-05-2025
- General
- Washington Post
Maintenance failures cited in fatal plane crash that triggered sonic boom
A private jet that crashed outside D.C. two years ago was flying without sufficient emergency oxygen, federal investigators concluded. The pilot's unresponsiveness prompted a sonic boom heard across the region as the military scrambled to intercept the mystery plane. The National Transportation Safety Board's final report on the accident, which killed the pilot and all three passengers, leaves some questions unanswered. Investigators concluded that the pilot passed out after the plane lost pressure, though the reasons remain a mystery. But the lack of extra oxygen contributed to the crash, according to investigators, who also highlighted unaddressed maintenance issues with the plane. The board's final report, released Tuesday, said the Cessna Citation's owner failed to repair problems identified by mechanics weeks before the flight, 'including several related to the pressurization and environmental control system.' The plane probably lost cabin pressure, the report says, causing the pilot and passengers to lose consciousness and the plane to travel on autopilot for about two hours until it crashed in the Virginia mountains. Responsibility for those issues was disputed in interviews this week by the owner, whose daughter and granddaughter were on the plane, and the man who sold him the plane weeks before the June 4, 2023, crash. 'It had to be the prior owner,' said John Rumpel. A bill of sale for the 11-seat jet is dated April 17, 2023, according to registration records. 'I was never made aware of any problems; if I was, I certainly would not have put my daughter on it.' The NTSB cited an inspection the month after Rumpel bought the plane that identified 26 issues, 'including the emergency exit door seal sticking out of the airplane, improper installation of the humidity regulator, and improper securing of the cabin temperature sensor.' The report says 'the airplane owner declined to address these items.' The plane's pilot told mechanics that he had concerns with how the plane had been inspected and maintained before the sale, and that it had a warranty, according to documents released by the NTSB. The previous owner, Sheldon B. Gosney, said the plane was 'in perfect condition' when he sold it to Rumpel. If the sale had not gone through, he said, he planned to fly it to Alaska for a family vacation. 'I would have flown my family in it anywhere,' Gosney said. 'But I always check my oxygen before leaving Mother Earth,' he added. According to the NTSB, the plane lacked enough supplemental oxygen to help the plane's occupants in the event that pressure was lost. The pilot, Jeff Hefner, probably lost consciousness within minutes of leaving a small airport near the Rumpel family's summer home in Banner Elk, North Carolina, officials said. Hefner stopped responding to air traffic control instructions as the plane climbed to 34,000 feet; it continued toward its destination in East Hampton, New York, before turning around and heading south. Its passage over the restricted D.C. airspace without any communication led military fighter jets to be sent out to intercept it at a speed faster than sound, triggering a sonic boom that could be heard for miles. Some of those pilots were able to see that Hefner was slumped over in the pilot's seat; they could not see the passengers or get any response from inside the plane. Within two minutes of the jets' observation, the Cessna spiraled out of the air at high speed, hitting a mountain near the George Washington National Forest and bursting into flames. The NTSB did not give a definitive cause for the crash. The mountainous terrain of the site made investigating the crash difficult. There was no flight data recorder, and no cockpit voice recorder was recovered. But 'contributing to the accident was' the decision 'to operate the airplane without supplemental oxygen,' the report says. The plane also lacked a pilot-side oxygen mask days before the crash, according to the NTSB; Rumpel said he bought Hefner a new one shortly before the flight. The Air Force pilots who could see into the plane saw no oxygen masks deployed, and the passenger masks were found at the crash site still attached to their boxes. According to the NTSB interviews, Hefner was planning to have the plane taken in for some repairs the week after the crash but expressed no concerns the day of the flight. Above 30,000 feet, Hefner might have had as little as 30 seconds to respond to the lack of oxygen before becoming incapacitated, the NTSB said. The 2023 summer vacation was Rumpel's first using the Cessna, he said. He took the plane from Florida to North Carolina, then sent it to pick up his daughter, Adina Azarian, in New York. Azarian, her 2-year-old daughter, Aria, and their nanny, Evadnie Smith, were headed back to their home in East Hampton when the plane crashed. Hefner was an experienced and conscientious pilot who had flown tens of thousands of hours for Southwest Airlines, former clients and colleagues said. Smith, 56, was a 'chef at heart' who supported many relatives in her home country of Jamaica and hoped to retire there soon, her son told the Jamaica Gleaner after the crash. 'It just hurt me that she had to go this way,' he said. Rumpel and his wife adopted Azarian, 49, when she was 40 years old. The real estate agent reminded them of their first daughter, Victoria, who died in a scuba diving accident at age 19. 'They had the same fire in their bellies, and they were loving, caring children,' Rumpel said after the crash in 2023. 'We had no one else, and we loved her.' Though there was barely anything left of his daughter and granddaughter to bury, he purchased three burial plots in East Hampton for their remains so they would have additional room. 'She wouldn't have wanted the three graves; she wouldn't have wanted to take up the ground,' he said, referring to his daughter. 'But I loved her that much.' Gosney said he felt for the Rumpel family's loss — 'but I don't feel responsibility for it.'
Boston Globe
14-02-2025
- General
- Boston Globe
Walking through history and Savannah's stories of slavery
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up We lingered in the square as Rumpel told us the story of Andrew Bryan, one of the founders of the First African Baptist Church, who was publicly whipped and imprisoned for preaching. Many slave owners had forbidden their slaves to listen to Bryan's sermons. Bryan would not capitulate and would later be revered and honored for his actions. Advertisement Later, Congregationalists would gather at the church to raise some $2,000 for the Bryan School, one of the first schools for Blacks, established in January 1865. The First African Baptist Church in Savannah, Ga., a registered historic landmark, is home to the oldest continuous Black congregation in the nation. Pamela Wright 'More than 350 schoolchildren walked right down here, singing for freedom,' said Rumpel, as we walked through City Market and he played the gospel song 'We Shall Be Free,' from his portable speaker. He pointed out the former school building (now a storefront) that was ironically (and sadly) once the office and brokerage for a prominent slave trader. 'There were still stacks of bills of sale for slaves. The children turned them over and used them for paper,' Rumpel said. 'I guess that's what you call turning the page.' Advertisement We walked to Johnson Square, the oldest and largest square in Savannah, surrounded by some of the city's most opulent buildings, including City Hall, Christ Episcopal Church, and several banks. 'The slave traders were operating right here,' Rumpel said. 'At the end of the block was Negro Yard, where the slaves were held before auction. The first Tuesday of the month, families walked down the street in handcuffs to be auctioned off.' The first Civil War secession rally was also held in Johnson Square. On Nov. 8, 1860, a large crowd gathered to oppose the election of Abraham Lincoln and called for a state secession convention. They raised the first secession flag in the South, with the image of a coiled snake and the words 'Southern Rights. Equality of the States. Don't Tread on Me.' Fritz Rumpel, local historian and tour guide in Savannah, shows a photo of an ad for one of the largest slave auctions in the country. Pamela Wright Leaving the square, Rumpel stopped again to show us a copy of a poster advertising a slave auction. In March 1857, during two rainy days at a racetrack located just outside downtown, 436 men, women, and children were sold. It was one of the largest slave auctions in the history of America. 'Some thought it became known as The Weeping Time because of the rain,' Rumpel said. 'But we know it was the heavens that were weeping. The rain stopped when the auction was over.' Our final stop was Madison Square, where Rumpel pointed out the Advertisement The Savannah African Art Museum has an impressive display of 19th- and 20th-century art from West and Central Africa. Pamela Wright Four days before, Sherman and Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton had met with 20 Black ministers and asked them what they would need to take care of themselves and succeed in life. They answered: land. Sherman confiscated 400,000 acres of private land owned by Confederates, largely along the Sea Islands, and redistributed it to freed slaves in 40-acre plots. It came to be known as the 'Isn't it ironic?' Chuck Ward, our traveling companion said. We were dining at Planters Tavern in the cellar of The Olde Pink House, enjoying blackened oysters, sweet local crab cakes nestled between two fried green tomato slices, and sauteed shrimp with country ham gravy and a cheddar cheese grits cake. Ironic because when James Oglethorpe founded Savannah and the colony of Georgia in 1733, slavery was forbidden. His vision: to create a classless, egalitarian society where all could make a better life. The Pin Point Heritage Museum, located in a former oyster and crab factory on the banks of the Moon River, is a fascinating place to learn about Savannah's Gullah Geechee culture. Pamela Wright Learn more Savannah has several other places to learn about its Black history and African American heritage. The Advertisement The The The Diane Bair and Pamela Wright can be reached at
