Tyler Hansen 'we think he has hypoxia' gosh!!! I am no pilot or aviation expert but those alarms in the background doesnt do much to alert ATC,does it? :( but the drawl.....the laboured forming of words... Even That wasnt enough? :(
I think that captain deserved some award for managing to land safely alone as in reports it says the co pilot was unconscious and by sound of him he wasn't far from being unconscious.
Agree although it sounds like at the end of the 'video' he got rid of hypoxia. Maybe lower alt or he just used an oxygen mask. So I think while landing he was feeling much better.
+LexonyAble I think you're right and I think whoever talked to the pilot recognized it was hypoxia and told him to decrease his altitude and the pilot talked normally after that. He totally saved the life of anyone in that plane
i think his situation improved when he was closer to the airport to land.. you can totally hear he is speaking way more fluently , I don't he could have landed in the state he was at first.
Hypoxia is insidious, because one of the side effects is that you are convinced everything is fine. Or, as this pilot said, "A-OK." When I did a session in a hypobaric chamber, they had us write our name and answer simple addition questions on a kneepad as the altitude increased. I can recall distinctly thinking at the time; "wow, I'm totally killing this, I'm not being affected at all and I'm able to answer every math question and still write my name perfectly with no problems! I must be immune to hypoxia." Then they brought the altitude back down. First thing I noticed was that it was like someone turned the "color" setting back on in my eyes (I hadn't realized at the time that it had gone away and that I wasn't seeing in color). When we were back at ground level pressure, I looked at my kneepad. What I had thought was perfect writing and math answers was actually illegible scribbling, and the stuff I had written at the highest altitude was just a wiggly line going off the side of the page. Yet at the time, I KNEW I was writing everything perfectly.
I remember my scribble. lol 😂 I had a real life g-loc and another heat stroke and they were both similar. I struggled with ATC and tuning the radio. Why is this hard ??
Wow... Nothing I learned in my flight training taught me about hypoxia like this recording did. He sounds absolutely lying-in-the-gutter-peeing-himself drunk! He seemed so close to unconsciousness, and, to me, completely indistinguishable from severe drunkenness. Sure, the books tell you it resembles drunkenness, but this is just eerie. This should be shown in private pilot ground school. I mean, wow.
I played this video for a controller friend of mine and asked him what he thought the problem was and he responded "he's drunk". I also asked another friend whos in school to be a controller and he'd never heard this video before either. This video Should be required viewing for any Air Traffic Controller. Its a great teaching tool..
Maybe a stroke, but drunkenness? This goes far beyond drunkenness. This is mental retardation: Painfully slow, slurred speech Nonsensical stream-of-consciousness monologue radio calls Carefree attitude during a declared emergency In case ATC didn't have enough clues: Radar/transponder altitude data Alarm siren in the background The fact that ATCs have no training on a condition that pilots are unable to self-diagnose is criminal.
@@AwestrikeFearofGods Hard agree. ATC shouldn't have been given an award for this but rather a slap on the wrist, in my opinion. Nevermind the hypoxia, having a pilot hot key the mic where all you can hear are sirens and you tell them to be careful not to key the mic?. Absurd.
***** It's probably not sarcasm, it´s hypoxia. The guy might not have been aware that he couldn't speak properly. When deprived of oxygen, the brain gradually slows down and turns off. That includes the ability to assess the situation and its own abilities. In other words one becomes what used to be called a proper Moron. Also euphoria often kicks in. In this case they managed to descent before it got too far. For those who wonder, the effect differs from asphyxiation in that in hypoxia the CO2 is vented out through lungs. It is only the level of CO2 in blood that triggers the sensation of suffocating. Surprisingly, the human body has no sensors for low oxygen (so much for an "intelligent" design hehe). Because of the narcosis effect and euphoria, hypoxia is an excellent way to humanly kill most oxygen breathing creatures.
IdentiMind These pilots were based out of Morristown,TN and the company is no longer in business. Both pilots could not recall the incident and were let go due to not following the before flight check list.They were VERY lucky that this did not end bad.
wow, the pilot did a great job with his speech, managing to make himself understood under those circumstances by speaking slowly and clearly. Well done.
He couldn't control these things because his copilot was unconscious, slumped over the controls, but he was so hypoxic that he didn't care about the copilot, and didn't realize that was the reason why he couldn't control the airplane.
I’m military aircrew. We undergo rapid decompression and hypoxia training in the chamber at RAF Henlow. It amazed me how totally unaware I was of my predicament (if I wasn’t sat with a doctor next to me in the chamber monitoring me) we are allowed a max of 4 mins at 25000 ft off oxygen. We are tasked with doing simple tasks. Addition/ subtraction, draw shapes etc and then mark on the page at minute intervals. At 3m and 30 seconds I was ordered to put my oxy mask back on. Apparently I sat there blissfully unaware of the fact that had I not been in a controlled environment I would soon be dead. The idea being that we then go back and review the tasks we were supposed to carry out so that we become self aware of our own personal symptoms as we start to go hypoxia. I will say though it would be a happy death as you don’t even see it coming.
SmarterEveryDay has a great video on this. At one point they outright tell him he's going to die if he doesn't put his mask on and he just keeps smiling. Scary stuff.
I heard through the grapevine that you can be booted out of flying in the military if you don't recognize your symptoms before being told you have to put the mask back on. is this true?
I was flying my hang glider at high altitude for the first time. I had O2, but not turned up enough. I noticed that whenever I would look at my flight instrument, that by the time my eyes focused on it, I had forgotten the piece of information I wanted. Then I realized that was bad. Then I realized I should do something about it quickly. So I descended a few thousand feet.
palonazo No, there was a second pilot on board Kallita-66, as well. You hear a pilot in a different aircraft relaying to ATC early in the recording, but later, after the aircraft has descended, you hear the second pilot on Kallita-66 talking. Listen to the callsign being used. He isn't talking earlier because he wasn't conscious.
palonazo "Obviously there were two pilots in the airplane..." It wasn't "obvious" to you back in April, when you wrote, "No second pilot there. All there was is another traffic relaying radio messages." "... what in this video makes anyone a hero." You'd have to ask whomever said that; I didn't.
+palonazo uh… it says "SECOND PILOT" throughout the entire video. you know, the guy that clarified for ATC that the hypoxic pilot requested the vectors for Ypsilanti not Cincinnati. THE GUY WHOSE NAMED IS LITERALLY "SECOND PILOT"
The fact that it took the ATC that long to come up with the facts in regards to hypoxia is quite chilling, you had the alarms blaring from the start of the transmission and the guy barely able to speak a coherent sentence and yet the ATC continued speaking with him as if the only issue was the plane.
and yet, they gave the ATC AN AWARD for his 'quick thinking (!!??) and handling of this emergency"!!!! this is disgusting to me! the ATC didnt even realize this was an emergency, in spite of the pilots obvious incapacitation, and another planes pilot TELLING THE ATC OPERATOR!! if anyone deserves an award, it is the pilot of the other plane drawing the attention to the emergency call to the ATC operator.....he should be fired, not awarded!!
This is a perfect example of what a Type 1 diabetic like myself often experiences when having a hypo, instead of the lack of oxygen it is a lack of sugar for me. My friend recorded me talking on the phone while having a hypo and i sounded and reacted in the same way; Even after 20+ years living with diabetes it is very hard to identify yourself so I can understand and respect the amazing job done by the controllers and other people on the frequency to help the crew manage the hypoxia
Fill an empty airbed with the air from your lungs as fast as you can. When you feel dizzy and your vision is blurred than congrats: You are hypoxic ;-)
“Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. This is Captain Morgan speaking with your co-pilot, Jack Daniels. We are currently flying at 33,000 feet and will be taking off shortly.”
Thank goodness the second pilot was around, I don't think the controller would have figured out this guy was hypoxic, especially since he didn't get it within the first two minutes. Atc was lucky the hypoxic pilot didn't pass out... Scary stuff.
@@budbuddybuddestYou don't consume the oxygen as you breathe in, as you do with the food you eat, though this is a common misconception. The concentration of oxygen in the air is in balance with the concentration of oxygen in the blood of your lungs. The oxygen just moves from where is more (the air in your lungs) to where is less (your blood), until there is the same amount in both places. The air you exhale still contains about 80% of the oxygen you breathed in. Hyperventilation only marginally raises your oxygen concentration, and it has diminishing returns. It can only ever help you reach a concentration that the air has, which at these altitudes is not enough. (This is a simplification. There is haemoglobin in your veins, not air, and oxygen prefers haemoglobin. Regardless, the concentration of oxygen in the air will set a hard limit of the oxygen saturation of the blood.) The purpose of hyperventilation instead is getting rid of CO2, which, if you do too much, even at these high altitudes will increase the pH of your blood until you pass out from that.
Is there some sort of standard sound for each alert, so the controller would know what was going wrong? Or do they all have different types of siren? A voice saying "LOW OXYGEN WARNING!" would be dead handy right about then, and the chip to do it would cost a couple of dollars.
I was a flight instructor at the Black Forest Gliderport in Colorado where many people came to get their altitude diamonds in gliders which required a 16,000 foot gain in altitude. This required a flight to around 30,000 feet in the wave coming off Pikes Peak. The gliders were equipped with breathing oxygen but the cockpits were not pressurized. I've been to around 30,000 feet in gliders perhaps 200 times during orientation (instructional) flights and we always used the pilot's voice to know if they were becoming hypoxic. I knew what was wrong as soon as I heard the pilot's first transmission and it amazes me that the ATC controller didn't recognize it and immediately send him to a lower altitude. Fortunately there were other flight crew members with working oxygen masks who took charge of the flight.
A pilot's voice... Sounds like great advice. A pilots muscle memory skills or autopilot will keep the blue-side up. so the voice is the give away! Thanks.
@@MomIrregardlessthats because the only one still awake was the captain. The one talking. He had the plane in a decent the entire time as auto pilot was disengaged and he was hand flying.
I've been through hypoxia training 2 or 3 times. When I'm hypoxic, I just don't care. Nothing is important. Hats off to those pilots who were able to focus and stay with such a thick skulled ATC. I would have been dead and wouldn't have cared.
3 minutes and 25 seconds to think he has hypoxia. He is lucky the pilot wasn't unconscious in that amount of time at 26,000 feet. Atc should have gotten him down to 10,000 feet asap
@@devinthierault In this situation, the first officer was unconscious and moving his hands around pushing the autopilot button, so the pilot was flying the plane by hand the entire time. It's probably what kept him awake because if he had nothing to do I think he would have joined the first officer and went to sleep.
i think they where trying to get him tio descend slowly so as to not make his slowed brainpower think " DIVE DIVE DIVE!! DIVE FOR GLORY DIVE !!!!" and not be able to pull out or realize he's fucked up.
The higher you are, the more time you have to fix things before you hit the ground, and the further you can travel. So altitude = safety sometimes. When you don't have loss of cabin pressure. It's easy to be wise in hindsight.
2:02 You can tell he is making every effort to get those words out in a coherent way. Scary stuff. You can train to recognize symptoms and heighten tolerance some, but even the most seasoned pilots and mountain climbers will succumb to it. No one's immune.
UNBELIEVABLE STUFF !!! THANK GOD FOR SUCH A WONDERFUL ATC WORK !! THANK YOU ATC FOR KEEPING US THE PILOTS ALIVE FROM THE RADAR SCREEN !! EXCELLENT WORK 😊😊
I know these pilots. The reason the second pilot didnt talk is because he was passed out. The only reason either of them lived is because they had the autopilot off since the captain was an old school pilot and flew by stick, so the muscle movements kept him alive long enough to decend.
I was raised in the Andes (over 4000 meters) and went trekking a lot with tourists at the mountains surrounding my town. I could tell that was hypoxia from the third word he tried to pronounce
Thank God that the other pilot or controller was on the ball. The distressed pilots articulation despite his incapacitation is miraculous -- surprised he didn't begin to recognize his condition and request permission for immediate descent. The transition was incredible. Oxygenate, aviate, navigate and communicate.
1:09 it's frightening that once you get 'high' you become unable to take even a life threatening situation seriously. On the other hand, the ironic distance probably helped him to remain relatively calm throughout.
That's actually a very interesting point, usuckatsoldering. It is, indeed, ironic that the hypoxia may well have kept the pilot calm enough to fly to a lower/safe altitude instead of freaking out/stalling/pitching the nose up instead of down or whatever other pilot errors occur when there's sensory overload & inappropriate actions are taken. I like you.
Theres a famous hypoxia experiment video on YT, they have him in a chamber and start pumping the oxygen out. At one point one of the instructors tells him to his face that unless you put your mask on you will die. He just keeps smiling, totally oblivious
I'm honestly surprised, that this pilot can even focus, having extreme hypoxia, to descend in altitude.. Most people can't even put on an oxygen mask at that point to be able to even remotely function, let alone navigate an airplane. Amazing pilot. Depending on his o2 sat level was, which was likely 65 or below, he was very high, and just absolutely amazing that he could perform even the simplest of tasks. I'd love to meet this pilot, and shake his hand. He's a walking ghost.
A world of respect for both the pilots and ATC on the handling of this emergency. This is why I have so much admiration for line pilots. They stare death in the face with great training and utter control.
Apparently the second pilot was passed out and kept switching off auto pilot with his uncontrolled body movement which meant the pilot had to fly manually, that probably kept him awake for that long having to steer the plane. If he had been able to switch on auto pilot maybe he would have passed out and the planed stayed at 32000 feet until it burned out. Really lucky the pilot managed to stay awake!
It sounds like we just had another, with a sad ending. Tennessee to Long Island, NY, it reversed course and got attention when he overflew Washington D.C. today at 34000 feet. The aircraft was no contact, so USAF intercepted and was unable to contact the pilot. The aircraft subsequently crashed in a forest in Virginia. Hypoxia awareness saves lives.
Amazing how fast he sounded sober again. Instantaneous. The sound of the alarm in the background must have scared people. It was also hard not to laugh at him too. The fellow ATC Stephanie is the one who figured out he was hypoxic. Actually you can ki d of hear that he gets better at 26000... It's just slightly clearer in his voice, and then completely gone at 11. Just amazing he was able to stay awake and aware.
A bit arrogant of you. Are you ATC? Pity you weren't there in the moment trying to figure it all out. You would have been great help - not. I'm sure they copped it after the second or third rambling transmission and only mentioned it in transmission later.
Brian Sparks really? His English is perfect, his pronunciation is perfect, you can clearly tell he’s in some sort of distress. Especially with the alarms blaring in the background
Here’s an idea... integrate pulse oximeters into the control column handholds (Boeing) or the side stick (Airbus) so the plane can monitor pulse oximetry. My Apple Watch can do it. It can monitor my heart rate, SpO2 (blood oxygen concentration), etc. So figure out a way to integrate that into a place that pilots and co-pilots hold their hands on a near constant basis [like the handholds on the control column on a Boeing, or on the side stick on an Airbus (and/or the throttle levers on both)]. Just an idea to attempt to give an earlier warning than slurring or at least a way to test to see if that’s the issue. It’s amazing to me that these guys didn’t spot it right off. One didn’t hear the other slurring? Granted, I may have only partial information or may be misinformed. So take this with a grain of salt. It’s just an idea. I’ve been a paramedic for 17 years. I know hypoxia is an easy detect and fix. On earth. I don’t know how much more difficult it would become at altitude, but it doesn’t seem like it would be any more difficult, logically. Anyway. Take this idea and run with it if you want. Thanks for reading!
As someone who has suffered (and been observed from suffering) hypoxia, this sounds so familiar - but ten times scarier given I'm not a frigging airline pilot...
omg.....there was no 'second pilot' only the passed out co-pilot....the real savior was the pilot of the other plane in the area, telling the ignorant atc operator what was happening!!
This is the ultimate example of cool heads prevailing in an emergency. man they should be so proud of themselves. They deserved the Archie Award for such professionalism. I think Pilots have become too dependant on new technologies, thank goodness there was old school on board, otherwise this would have been another sad story for the news. when the Co-pilot came too he didn't allow himself to be startled, he was brilliant as-well. But thank goodness for the people on the ground. HEROES.
in some part that is marker as uninteligible, it says "No possible damage to any part of the aircraft "or crew". (so, he was thinking in survivor mode).
Not sure why it wasn't obvious to the first controller. Pilot sounded completely out of it - an obvious sign of hypoxia. I mean, when a cop pulls over a driver and he's slurring his words, it's obvious from the get go he is drunk or high (or suffering a stroke). He wouldn't need to have a five-minute conversation to figure that out. Thank goodness the other controller was there to recognize it instantly.
If the controller in question NEVER had this situation presented to him before, it's completely possible he just didn't recognize the symptons. Sure, he studied hypoxia on paper, but he may have underestimated how and when it occurs, and the effect it could have on a pilot.
+Absurdist Would I have known about hypoxia without the word in the title? No. But just from listening to his speech, it's extremely obvious that he's IMPAIRED. As a flight controller, you would know the probable whys and hows, and go from there.
As recently as 10 years ago, ATC school included a spin in the hypoxia rig. Pilots got a strong dose, too--like the pilot here. Also, Private Pilots could (and perhaps still can) schedule a "ride" in OK City. During the ride, I was asked to perform simple tasks while the 02 mixture was gradually leaned; after reaching the "edge of stupidity" I was unable to speak clearly, and was oblivious to my extreme mental impairment. In addition to an epic headache, afterward, I was given a VHS tape of my experience as a souvenir AND to share with other pilots. Some day I might dig it up, make a digital master, and post it here.
So not only were you impaired, but you didn't even realize there was something wrong? That's really cool. I'd love to watch that video if you ever get it uploaded!
Honestly he probably didn't realize how bad it was, hypoxia symptoms can make you feel super high and happy, close to blackout drunk happy after smoking the strongest weed in the world
Fill an empty airbed with the air from your lungs as fast as you can. When you feel dizzy and your vision becomes blurry then congrats: You are now getting a SLIGHT glimpse on what it´s like being hypoxic. Be careful with that and have someone with you in case you decide to try it !!! I never felt any kind of euphoria. To me it was more like "Hold on (literally)! Something is wrong here!" but ofc i never exoerienced the real thing.
bugy bug I figured that that was exactly what gave it away. The controller said that he thought the pilots were suffering hypoxia. You could definitely hear the their change in their voices and affects once they descended.
"Estreme hypoxia?" Any Hypoxia is an extreme emergency. But with what would medically be considered extreme hypoxia and he wouldn't be talking to the tower.
"Unable to control altitude. Unable to control airspeed. Unable to control heading. Other than that, everything is A-OK!"
Story of my life
perhaps this mood of well being is because of euphoria
How nonchalantly spoken
Jst like me when I'm pissed. 🍺😬
"Hey I'm losing consciousness and the plane is basically not being piloted, but other than that, we're chillin."
Lolol underrated comment.
Omg 😂
That’s what hypoxia will do to you. O_O
"We bout to die other than that we Gucci"
@Darius Beaumont party pooper
When you can already hardly speak due to Hypoxia and you have to request vectors to a name of "Ypsilanti" xd
www.google.com/#q=map+ypsilanti+mi
OLGMC Ypsilanti willow run airport by Detroit Michigan is one of Kalittas main base of operations
LOL
Ypsilanti (ip-si-lan-ti) is hard to say even on the ground! Most out of towners say yes-planti :-)
Could have been SCHENECTADY NY
Unable to control altitude
Unable to control airspeed
Unable to control heading
Other than that, everything is A-OK! LOL
Gervin , It is strange, but, when there is hypoxia, there is a strange sensation of happiness and the will of making jokes
anisocoro one of the effects of hypoxia is becoming euphoric.
Gervin allways keeping calm 😂
It's like some drugs or much of alcohol. Unconscious but still talking, witch is terrifying.
Lol
I'm surprised it took the atc that long to tell him to descend. The guy sounded like he was a minute or two from being completely out.
I was wondering about that myself. I'm guessing he wasn't that far up from FL110.
He said he was decending to FL260. So he had to have been above that
seconds not minutes. major emergency etc should of triggered and said emergency decent
Tyler Hansen 'we think he has hypoxia' gosh!!! I am no pilot or aviation expert but those alarms in the background doesnt do much to alert ATC,does it? :( but the drawl.....the laboured forming of words... Even That wasnt enough? :(
No kidding it was like pulling teeth . This can’t be an example of good performance by atc but rather amazing patience and skill of the pilot .
I think that captain deserved some award for managing to land safely alone as in reports it says the co pilot was unconscious and by sound of him he wasn't far from being unconscious.
Agree although it sounds like at the end of the 'video' he got rid of hypoxia. Maybe lower alt or he just used an oxygen mask. So I think while landing he was feeling much better.
+LexonyAble I think you're right and I think whoever talked to the pilot recognized it was hypoxia and told him to decrease his altitude and the pilot talked normally after that.
He totally saved the life of anyone in that plane
Jorgen Dewez yup still amazing he was able to give info to the person on the ground in this state.
km o wh
i think his situation improved when he was closer to the airport to land.. you can totally hear he is speaking way more fluently , I don't he could have landed in the state he was at first.
Hypoxia is insidious, because one of the side effects is that you are convinced everything is fine. Or, as this pilot said, "A-OK."
When I did a session in a hypobaric chamber, they had us write our name and answer simple addition questions on a kneepad as the altitude increased. I can recall distinctly thinking at the time; "wow, I'm totally killing this, I'm not being affected at all and I'm able to answer every math question and still write my name perfectly with no problems! I must be immune to hypoxia."
Then they brought the altitude back down. First thing I noticed was that it was like someone turned the "color" setting back on in my eyes (I hadn't realized at the time that it had gone away and that I wasn't seeing in color). When we were back at ground level pressure, I looked at my kneepad. What I had thought was perfect writing and math answers was actually illegible scribbling, and the stuff I had written at the highest altitude was just a wiggly line going off the side of the page. Yet at the time, I KNEW I was writing everything perfectly.
that's fascinating
I remember my scribble. lol 😂 I had a real life g-loc and another heat stroke and they were both similar. I struggled with ATC and tuning the radio. Why is this hard ??
Really scary to be honest.
Wow... Nothing I learned in my flight training taught me about hypoxia like this recording did. He sounds absolutely lying-in-the-gutter-peeing-himself drunk! He seemed so close to unconsciousness, and, to me, completely indistinguishable from severe drunkenness. Sure, the books tell you it resembles drunkenness, but this is just eerie. This should be shown in private pilot ground school.
I mean, wow.
agree on that one...
Most pilots dont fly high enough to become hypoxic as far as I know. Although I'm no expert so dont hold me to that one.
@Fernandino Alonsini I was talking about private pilots not the ones who do it for a living.
BAKED2POTATO420 Private Pilots too fly above these altitudes. Depending on the airplane they would then need to take oxygen masks and tanks with them
dcs002 they teach about hypoxia in private pilot training now
I played this video for a controller friend of mine and asked him what he thought the problem was and he responded "he's drunk". I also asked another friend whos in school to be a controller and he'd never heard this video before either. This video Should be required viewing for any Air Traffic Controller. Its a great teaching tool..
Maybe a stroke, but drunkenness? This goes far beyond drunkenness. This is mental retardation:
Painfully slow, slurred speech
Nonsensical stream-of-consciousness monologue radio calls
Carefree attitude during a declared emergency
In case ATC didn't have enough clues:
Radar/transponder altitude data
Alarm siren in the background
The fact that ATCs have no training on a condition that pilots are unable to self-diagnose is criminal.
@@AwestrikeFearofGods Hard agree. ATC shouldn't have been given an award for this but rather a slap on the wrist, in my opinion. Nevermind the hypoxia, having a pilot hot key the mic where all you can hear are sirens and you tell them to be careful not to key the mic?. Absurd.
I admire this pilot's ability to maintain sarcasm while under such extreme conditions.
*****
i'm not sure this was meant to be funny...he propably just didn't have any idea what's going on anymore...still that line was hillarious xD
We are slowly. EVER so slowly...
***** It's probably not sarcasm, it´s hypoxia. The guy might not have been aware that he couldn't speak properly.
When deprived of oxygen, the brain gradually slows down and turns off. That includes the ability to assess the situation and its own abilities. In other words one becomes what used to be called a proper Moron. Also euphoria often kicks in. In this case they managed to descent before it got too far.
For those who wonder, the effect differs from asphyxiation in that in hypoxia the CO2 is vented out through lungs. It is only the level of CO2 in blood that triggers the sensation of suffocating. Surprisingly, the human body has no sensors for low oxygen (so much for an "intelligent" design hehe).
Because of the narcosis effect and euphoria, hypoxia is an excellent way to humanly kill most oxygen breathing creatures.
misium exactly. Well said it was definitely not sarcasm
IdentiMind These pilots were based out of Morristown,TN and the company is no longer in business. Both pilots could not recall the incident and were let go due to not following the before flight check list.They were VERY lucky that this did not end bad.
wow, the pilot did a great job with his speech, managing to make himself understood under those circumstances by speaking slowly and clearly. Well done.
not really, when you are hypoxic( lack of O² ) you will talk like that
lol, I think you missed the point...
Suit yourself
i don't think he talked like that on purpose.
ps: i like you a 5 line conversation can span across 4 years.
he wasn't talking like that on purpose. he was high on low air low! lol.
Unable to control altitude
Unable to control airspeed
Unable to control heading
Monday morning for me
Story of my life
Incredible mental strength of this guy to keep getting clear messages and coherent speech, damn! Get him in a fighter or something.
ATC: lmao same tho
*everything around telling him that he's gonna die*
"A-Okay!"
It’s because of hypoxia (lack of oxygen going to the brain)
When he starts listing off all things he can't control (the critical aspects of flying) your heart just sinks.
He said he can´t control.. he didn´t say he can´t maintain. ;-)
He couldn't control these things because his copilot was unconscious, slumped over the controls, but he was so hypoxic that he didn't care about the copilot, and didn't realize that was the reason why he couldn't control the airplane.
I’m military aircrew. We undergo rapid decompression and hypoxia training in the chamber at RAF Henlow.
It amazed me how totally unaware I was of my predicament (if I wasn’t sat with a doctor next to me in the chamber monitoring me) we are allowed a max of 4 mins at 25000 ft off oxygen. We are tasked with doing simple tasks. Addition/ subtraction, draw shapes etc and then mark on the page at minute intervals.
At 3m and 30 seconds I was ordered to put my oxy mask back on. Apparently I sat there blissfully unaware of the fact that had I not been in a controlled environment I would soon be dead. The idea being that we then go back and review the tasks we were supposed to carry out so that we become self aware of our own personal symptoms as we start to go hypoxia. I will say though it would be a happy death as you don’t even see it coming.
SmarterEveryDay has a great video on this. At one point they outright tell him he's going to die if he doesn't put his mask on and he just keeps smiling. Scary stuff.
I always wanted to do this and watch the video afterwards of how badly I was impaired.
I heard through the grapevine that you can be booted out of flying in the military if you don't recognize your symptoms before being told you have to put the mask back on. is this true?
I was flying my hang glider at high altitude for the first time. I had O2, but not turned up enough. I noticed that whenever I would look at my flight instrument, that by the time my eyes focused on it, I had forgotten the piece of information I wanted. Then I realized that was bad. Then I realized I should do something about it quickly. So I descended a few thousand feet.
I applied to join the raf and got told i wasnt rich enough to join ....smh
That second pilot was a hero. Saving that guy.
Yeah... The second pilot... The one who heard it and helped translate. Second pilot doesn't mean second in command.
palonazo No, there was a second pilot on board Kallita-66, as well. You hear a pilot in a different aircraft relaying to ATC early in the recording, but later, after the aircraft has descended, you hear the second pilot on Kallita-66 talking. Listen to the callsign being used. He isn't talking earlier because he wasn't conscious.
palonazo "Obviously there were two pilots in the airplane..." It wasn't "obvious" to you back in April, when you wrote, "No second pilot there. All there was is another traffic relaying radio messages."
"... what in this video makes anyone a hero." You'd have to ask whomever said that; I didn't.
*****
hahahah BUSTED!
+palonazo uh… it says "SECOND PILOT" throughout the entire video. you know, the guy that clarified for ATC that the hypoxic pilot requested the vectors for Ypsilanti not Cincinnati. THE GUY WHOSE NAMED IS LITERALLY "SECOND PILOT"
I can't control airspeed, altitude, or heading, but other then that I'm fine. XD
feels good man!
+Max W Aircraft is totally outta control, but everything else is A-OK! :D Points for optimism at least ;)
Sounds good to me. Could be worse...
hypoxia kicked in , lucky he made it in one piece .
Canadian Donald Trump than*
The fact that it took the ATC that long to come up with the facts in regards to hypoxia is quite chilling, you had the alarms blaring from the start of the transmission and the guy barely able to speak a coherent sentence and yet the ATC continued speaking with him as if the only issue was the plane.
yeah. ATC should be prepared for this. The instructions and communications from ATC were also very complex.
@@RM-el3gw Very true. Controller spoke as if the Mayday pilot was 100%. No modulation for the emergency in progress
@@user-zp6ff2gr4nOk but they should be trained to identify potential hypoxia and some kind of protocol for handling it as part of their job.
and yet, they gave the ATC AN AWARD for his 'quick thinking (!!??) and handling of this emergency"!!!! this is disgusting to me! the ATC didnt even realize this was an emergency, in spite of the pilots obvious incapacitation, and another planes pilot TELLING THE ATC OPERATOR!! if anyone deserves an award, it is the pilot of the other plane drawing the attention to the emergency call to the ATC operator.....he should be fired, not awarded!!
@@MomIrregardless totally agree, the pilot of the other plane deserves all the credit on this one
This is a perfect example of what a Type 1 diabetic like myself often experiences when having a hypo, instead of the lack of oxygen it is a lack of sugar for me. My friend recorded me talking on the phone while having a hypo and i sounded and reacted in the same way; Even after 20+ years living with diabetes it is very hard to identify yourself so I can understand and respect the amazing job done by the controllers and other people on the frequency to help the crew manage the hypoxia
Wait a sec...ATC suspected (eventually) hypoxia and requested descend to 26 thousand? That's still in the death zone...WTH?
This is one of the scariest things I have ever heard. So glad Captain was alert enough to follow instructions of ATC.
Amazing that he was able to maintain control of the aircraft being hypoxic.
Fill an empty airbed with the air from your lungs as fast as you can.
When you feel dizzy and your vision is blurred than congrats: You are hypoxic ;-)
it took that controller waaaaay to long to tell the guy to descend.
Controller takes minutes to ascertain hypoxia. A pilot hears it in about 15 seconds ?
Experience
Yeh who found out he had hypoxia?
Ally Bamma read description
Well, I'm pretty sure he'll realize in 0.5s the next time, after this.
"Fellow controller Bevins"
1:35 We're unable to do anything but that's ok!
+RifRaf T ReX After this, the pilot said that he didn't really know what he was saying and didn't mean to say that.
I think we all know that!
He may not remember his thinking, but at the time, he probably meant to. Euphoria would have caused him to think everything was dandy.
It probably helped him in the long run because that made it pretty clear he wasn't thinking straight due to hypoxia
He was fighting with everything he had. Never gave up on himself. Good man💪
Amazing professionalism by the pilot.
“Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. This is Captain Morgan speaking with your co-pilot, Jack Daniels. We are currently flying at 33,000 feet and will be taking off shortly.”
Lmao
This is gold lol
But no! He sounded drunk but wasn't.
I'm a pilot and this just killed me 😂😂
Hahaha
1:10 Unable to control altitude, airspeed, and heading, other than that EVERYTHING IS A-OK!!!
The pilot is not being brave by saying "everything is A-OK"... He is delirious...
"high"
Thank goodness the second pilot was around, I don't think the controller would have figured out this guy was hypoxic, especially since he didn't get it within the first two minutes. Atc was lucky the hypoxic pilot didn't pass out... Scary stuff.
Did the pilot realize he was hypoxic? Does it help to hyperventilate?
@@budbuddybuddest NO, absolutely not! Hyperventilating will only help you die faster.
2nd pilot was not around. he was unconscious. he woke up asoon as plane descended. kudos to this pilot who did not went unconscious
@@Subconapp the copilot was unconscious but there was also another pilot
@@budbuddybuddestYou don't consume the oxygen as you breathe in, as you do with the food you eat, though this is a common misconception. The concentration of oxygen in the air is in balance with the concentration of oxygen in the blood of your lungs. The oxygen just moves from where is more (the air in your lungs) to where is less (your blood), until there is the same amount in both places. The air you exhale still contains about 80% of the oxygen you breathed in.
Hyperventilation only marginally raises your oxygen concentration, and it has diminishing returns. It can only ever help you reach a concentration that the air has, which at these altitudes is not enough. (This is a simplification. There is haemoglobin in your veins, not air, and oxygen prefers haemoglobin. Regardless, the concentration of oxygen in the air will set a hard limit of the oxygen saturation of the blood.)
The purpose of hyperventilation instead is getting rid of CO2, which, if you do too much, even at these high altitudes will increase the pH of your blood until you pass out from that.
You can hear the low-oxygen alarm going off in the background.
low oxygen alarm uh...
+GeneralSirDouglasMcA Oh my...
+GeneralSirDouglasMcA
Is that what that is?
That's the cabin altitude alert
Is there some sort of standard sound for each alert, so the controller would know what was going wrong? Or do they all have different types of siren? A voice saying "LOW OXYGEN WARNING!" would be dead handy right about then, and the chip to do it would cost a couple of dollars.
good guy translating for atc :) legend
I was a flight instructor at the Black Forest Gliderport in Colorado where many people came to get their altitude diamonds in gliders which required a 16,000 foot gain in altitude. This required a flight to around 30,000 feet in the wave coming off Pikes Peak. The gliders were equipped with breathing oxygen but the cockpits were not pressurized. I've been to around 30,000 feet in gliders perhaps 200 times during orientation (instructional) flights and we always used the pilot's voice to know if they were becoming hypoxic. I knew what was wrong as soon as I heard the pilot's first transmission and it amazes me that the ATC controller didn't recognize it and immediately send him to a lower altitude. Fortunately there were other flight crew members with working oxygen masks who took charge of the flight.
A pilot's voice... Sounds like great advice. A pilots muscle memory skills or autopilot will keep the blue-side up. so the voice is the give away! Thanks.
i didnt see that there were other flight crew taking over......and it certainly didnt sound like it in the transmissions either
@@MomIrregardlessthats because the only one still awake was the captain. The one talking. He had the plane in a decent the entire time as auto pilot was disengaged and he was hand flying.
Pilot saying A-OK is perhaps he has euphoria. Mood of wee being
The alarm going off in the background of the aircraft should of been a huge indication for the controller.
Excellent job, proud of you.
And thank you for the help ATC have given me in the past, we couldn't fly without them.
+Robert Bolt After this, FAA gave them the National Air Traffic Controllers Association Medal of Safety!
I've been through hypoxia training 2 or 3 times. When I'm hypoxic, I just don't care. Nothing is important. Hats off to those pilots who were able to focus and stay with such a thick skulled ATC. I would have been dead and wouldn't have cared.
3 minutes and 25 seconds to think he has hypoxia. He is lucky the pilot wasn't unconscious in that amount of time at 26,000 feet. Atc should have gotten him down to 10,000 feet asap
Ikr
Shut it. You haven't worked a high pressure job one day in your life.
You set autopilot to 13,000 and then select vertical speed for a a very quick descent just in case you don't stay conscious.
@@devinthierault In this situation, the first officer was unconscious and moving his hands around pushing the autopilot button, so the pilot was flying the plane by hand the entire time. It's probably what kept him awake because if he had nothing to do I think he would have joined the first officer and went to sleep.
ATC and the other pilot should have recognized the symptoms and told him to get below 14,000 Not the 26,000
i think they where trying to get him tio descend slowly so as to not make his slowed brainpower think " DIVE DIVE DIVE!! DIVE FOR GLORY DIVE !!!!" and not be able to pull out or realize he's fucked up.
AcolyteOF Fire fucking lol!!
The higher you are, the more time you have to fix things before you hit the ground, and the further you can travel. So altitude = safety sometimes. When you don't have loss of cabin pressure. It's easy to be wise in hindsight.
2:02 You can tell he is making every effort to get those words out in a coherent way. Scary stuff. You can train to recognize symptoms and heighten tolerance some, but even the most seasoned pilots and mountain climbers will succumb to it. No one's immune.
UNBELIEVABLE STUFF !!! THANK GOD FOR SUCH A WONDERFUL ATC WORK !! THANK YOU ATC FOR KEEPING US THE PILOTS ALIVE FROM THE RADAR SCREEN !! EXCELLENT WORK 😊😊
"Unable to control... HEEEADING!!" I'm sorry, but I lost my shit
He sounds like Norm Macdonald part of the time.
00bean00 One of the effectsof hypoxia. Pilot had no clue he sounded like that
That fucking username and profile pic. Lol
Mateus Vinícius yeah same
I take my hat off to the pilot. His determination, despite the conditions his brain was having to work under, was incredible.
Have to say its really odd to have this in an archive for best ATC awards when the ATC seemed pretty clueless
exactly!!
I know these pilots. The reason the second pilot didnt talk is because he was passed out. The only reason either of them lived is because they had the autopilot off since the captain was an old school pilot and flew by stick, so the muscle movements kept him alive long enough to decend.
"Other than that, everything a-okay."
Bruh what a Chad
I was raised in the Andes (over 4000 meters) and went trekking a lot with tourists at the mountains surrounding my town. I could tell that was hypoxia from the third word he tried to pronounce
Thank God that the other pilot or controller was on the ball.
The distressed pilots articulation despite his incapacitation is miraculous -- surprised he didn't begin to recognize his condition and request permission for immediate descent.
The transition was incredible.
Oxygenate, aviate, navigate and communicate.
1:09 it's frightening that once you get 'high' you become unable to take even a life threatening situation seriously. On the other hand, the ironic distance probably helped him to remain relatively calm throughout.
That's actually a very interesting point, usuckatsoldering. It is, indeed, ironic that the hypoxia may well have kept the pilot calm enough to fly to a lower/safe altitude instead of freaking out/stalling/pitching the nose up instead of down or whatever other pilot errors occur when there's sensory overload & inappropriate actions are taken.
I like you.
That's scary stuff. He is so out of it he doesn't even know he actually hypoxic and needs to descend
Theres a famous hypoxia experiment video on YT, they have him in a chamber and start pumping the oxygen out. At one point one of the instructors tells him to his face that unless you put your mask on you will die. He just keeps smiling, totally oblivious
I'm honestly surprised, that this pilot can even focus, having extreme hypoxia, to descend in altitude.. Most people can't even put on an oxygen mask at that point to be able to even remotely function, let alone navigate an airplane. Amazing pilot. Depending on his o2 sat level was, which was likely 65 or below, he was very high, and just absolutely amazing that he could perform even the simplest of tasks. I'd love to meet this pilot, and shake his hand. He's a walking ghost.
A world of respect for both the pilots and ATC on the handling of this emergency. This is why I have so much admiration for line pilots. They stare death in the face with great training and utter control.
hypoxia is scary. amazing to hear how much better they sounded once they went lower. great video.
Incredible pilot. Very professional and diligent ATC.
Apparently the second pilot was passed out and kept switching off auto pilot with his uncontrolled body movement which meant the pilot had to fly manually, that probably kept him awake for that long having to steer the plane. If he had been able to switch on auto pilot maybe he would have passed out and the planed stayed at 32000 feet until it burned out. Really lucky the pilot managed to stay awake!
Smartereveryday has a great video about hypoxia, showing it and explaining it!
It’s scary and incredible!
The fact that this had a happy outcome allows me to laugh hysterically every time I hear this.
It sounds like we just had another, with a sad ending. Tennessee to Long Island, NY, it reversed course and got attention when he overflew Washington D.C. today at 34000 feet. The aircraft was no contact, so USAF intercepted and was unable to contact the pilot. The aircraft subsequently crashed in a forest in Virginia.
Hypoxia awareness saves lives.
This is really scary!!!
I get hypoxia just from eating Big Macs
This is by far the most terrifying ATC recording I've ever heard.
@@SusanKay- wow, you are talented at writing. I'm only on the first two lines of this so far. I remember these images. I was in 6th grade.
That pilot was 2 minutes from being dead and he didn't even realize it. That is some scary stuff.
Amazing how fast he sounded sober again. Instantaneous. The sound of the alarm in the background must have scared people.
It was also hard not to laugh at him too. The fellow ATC Stephanie is the one who figured out he was hypoxic.
Actually you can ki d of hear that he gets better at 26000... It's just slightly clearer in his voice, and then completely gone at 11. Just amazing he was able to stay awake and aware.
I felt the air traffic controller kept talking to keep him awake and working
It doesn't work that way. You can't talk someone through having no oxygen 😂
But other than that, everything is A-OK!
realityhitsmehardbro I
That just sounds like my life in general....
Euphoria is a very common symptom of hypoxia.
This gives me so much anxiety.
I had CHILLS and TEARS listening to this awesome brave professional Pilot slurring his words trying so hard.....BLESS HIS ALPHA MALE HEART
+ed2276 Yes, when you have hypoxia and get adequate oxygen, you really do bounce back that fast. Same thing with glucose if you're hypoglycaemic.
how he still kept it together is outstanding!
took the controller 4 minuets to instruct a decent when the guy clearly was suffering from hypoxia. Too slow for me.
ATC probably didn't realize that the pilot not flying had hypoxia.
A bit arrogant of you. Are you ATC? Pity you weren't there in the moment trying to figure it all out. You would have been great help - not. I'm sure they copped it after the second or third rambling transmission and only mentioned it in transmission later.
...Without video title saying hypoxia, my 1st thought would've been a pilot with English as a second language.
Brian Sparks really? His English is perfect, his pronunciation is perfect, you can clearly tell he’s in some sort of distress. Especially with the alarms blaring in the background
Camila C ...I'm not prone to telling fanciful stories on RUclips comments.
An excellent result and superb awareness from the atc.
i love it when people dont know what theyre talking about on youtube
Fascinating recording. Thank you!
Here’s an idea... integrate pulse oximeters into the control column handholds (Boeing) or the side stick (Airbus) so the plane can monitor pulse oximetry. My Apple Watch can do it. It can monitor my heart rate, SpO2 (blood oxygen concentration), etc. So figure out a way to integrate that into a place that pilots and co-pilots hold their hands on a near constant basis [like the handholds on the control column on a Boeing, or on the side stick on an Airbus (and/or the throttle levers on both)]. Just an idea to attempt to give an earlier warning than slurring or at least a way to test to see if that’s the issue. It’s amazing to me that these guys didn’t spot it right off. One didn’t hear the other slurring? Granted, I may have only partial information or may be misinformed. So take this with a grain of salt. It’s just an idea. I’ve been a paramedic for 17 years. I know hypoxia is an easy detect and fix. On earth. I don’t know how much more difficult it would become at altitude, but it doesn’t seem like it would be any more difficult, logically. Anyway. Take this idea and run with it if you want. Thanks for reading!
Or just give them an Apple Watch to wear. Let's not re-invent the wheel.
Apple watch isn't very sensitive to hypoxic conditions.
the top of my head just went numb and I have goose bumps all over listening to this
It took ATC 3 minutes to instruct a descend, that's just weird. You can hear the cabin altitude alarm going off. It was obviously hypoxia
Thanks for posting this compelling piece of audio!
interesting on how long it took the controller to notice that first priority would have been to order an immediate descent by AP to below 10'000
Thank goodness everyone was okay. Well done to keeping calm in the few of adversity!! Hats off to you guys :)
1:09 representation of my life..
Not fair, whenever I call my boss like this, he skips right past hypoxia...
As someone who has suffered (and been observed from suffering) hypoxia, this sounds so familiar - but ten times scarier given I'm not a frigging airline pilot...
"everything a-ok!"
This man has an insane amount of objective willpower.
Pilot: suffering from hypoxia.
ATC: same slick ATC lingo Mumbo jumbo.
AND I also Bless the second Pilot and the ATC staff....wow amazing to hear the Pilot's normal speech suddenly returning
omg.....there was no 'second pilot' only the passed out co-pilot....the real savior was the pilot of the other plane in the area, telling the ignorant atc operator what was happening!!
Glad he had a near by pilot to assist him with ATC.
This is the ultimate example of cool heads prevailing in an emergency. man they should be so proud of themselves. They deserved the Archie Award for such professionalism. I think Pilots have become too dependant on new technologies, thank goodness there was old school on board, otherwise this would have been another sad story for the news. when the Co-pilot came too he didn't allow himself to be startled, he was brilliant as-well. But thank goodness for the people on the ground. HEROES.
in some part that is marker as uninteligible, it says "No possible damage to any part of the aircraft "or crew". (so, he was thinking in survivor mode).
I am stinned how this pilot was able to still be so professional whilst suffering the effects of hypoxia.....well done sir!!!!!
what the hell was wrong with this controller? Can he not hear the pilot is losing it?
Half conscious but still very professional.... respect!
Not sure why it wasn't obvious to the first controller. Pilot sounded completely out of it - an obvious sign of hypoxia. I mean, when a cop pulls over a driver and he's slurring his words, it's obvious from the get go he is drunk or high (or suffering a stroke). He wouldn't need to have a five-minute conversation to figure that out. Thank goodness the other controller was there to recognize it instantly.
If the controller in question NEVER had this situation presented to him before, it's completely possible he just didn't recognize the symptons. Sure, he studied hypoxia on paper, but he may have underestimated how and when it occurs, and the effect it could have on a pilot.
... Well, when you're watching a video titled "extreme hypoxia" it does make it somewhat easier to see.
+Absurdist Would I have known about hypoxia without the word in the title? No. But just from listening to his speech, it's extremely obvious that he's IMPAIRED. As a flight controller, you would know the probable whys and hows, and go from there.
As recently as 10 years ago, ATC school included a spin in the hypoxia rig. Pilots got a strong dose, too--like the pilot here. Also, Private Pilots could (and perhaps still can) schedule a "ride" in OK City. During the ride, I was asked to perform simple tasks while the 02 mixture was gradually leaned; after reaching the "edge of stupidity" I was unable to speak clearly, and was oblivious to my extreme mental impairment. In addition to an epic headache, afterward, I was given a VHS tape of my experience as a souvenir AND to share with other pilots. Some day I might dig it up, make a digital master, and post it here.
So not only were you impaired, but you didn't even realize there was something wrong? That's really cool. I'd love to watch that video if you ever get it uploaded!
crazy how they were able to do this much while their brain is shutting down. fucking iron will what a machine
Honestly he probably didn't realize how bad it was, hypoxia symptoms can make you feel super high and happy, close to blackout drunk happy after smoking the strongest weed in the world
This video is very scary because it could have been a disaster so easily.
Fill an empty airbed with the air from your lungs as fast as you can. When you feel dizzy and your vision becomes blurry then congrats: You are now getting a SLIGHT glimpse on what it´s like being hypoxic. Be careful with that and have someone with you in case you decide to try it !!!
I never felt any kind of euphoria. To me it was more like "Hold on (literally)! Something is wrong here!" but ofc i never exoerienced the real thing.
aren't controllers are taught about hypoxia ?? I am surprised that the controller did not pay attention to pilot voice...
I thought the same... It could be a stroke aswell
bugy bug I figured that that was exactly what gave it away. The controller said that he thought the pilots were suffering hypoxia. You could definitely hear the their change in their voices and affects once they descended.
bugy bug air traffic controllers are not paramedics if thats what your asking, but yeah i think they are thought about hypoxia effects
bugy bug you be surprised how many pilots speak that way normally!
Just because he didn't voice it until later doesnt mean he didn't think that.
Say what you will, I'm thankful for our ATC professionals every time I fly.
"Estreme hypoxia?"
Any Hypoxia is an extreme emergency. But with what would medically be considered extreme hypoxia and he wouldn't be talking to the tower.
extreme hypoxia
symptoms: death
*acute death
Posthumousness
Yes but this one goes to 11
Never ceases to amaze me the calmness of most professional pilots under pressure and adversity......