U.S.

Unconscious Pilot's Plane Crashes, Sinks in Gulf of Mexico

The controls of an airplane might just top the list of worst places to lose consciousness.

By Adam Martin
This article is from the archive of our partner .

Update (3:50 p.m. EDT): We don't get a happy ending to this one, unfortunately. The plane has sunk, according to the Associated Press. There's no sign the pilot survived.

Update (2:36 p.m. EDT): The pilot appears to be a doctor from Slidell, Louisiana, named Peter Hertzak, according to local broadcaster WDSU, which got the information from someone on the airport board in Slidell.

Update (1:26 p.m. EDT): There's hope for a happy ending yet. The Associated Press reports that "The plane landed softly in the water and was intact, floating right side up ... A Coast Guard helicopter was responding and a patrol boat was about 90 miles away."

Update (1 p.m. EDT): The plane, a Cessna 421 (an example of which is pictured above), is registered to Lee H. Aviation, Inc., of Wilmington, Delaware, according to Flightaware. It's a two-engine propeller plane, and the pilot was apparently the sole occupant.

Update (12:25 p.m. EDT): Breaking News is reporting the plane just went down 170 miles off the coast of Florida. (12:37 p.m.: CNN's Lisa Desjardins tweets that the Coast Guard confirmed to CNN the plane is down).

Original: The controls of an airplane might just top the list of worst places to lose consciousness. So we've got our fingers crossed for the apparently unconscious pilot of a private plane that's reportedly circling above the Gulf of Mexico, well off the coast of Florida, where he or she is expected to crash.

Two F-15s have apparently flown out to meet the prop plane as it flies aimlessly, ABC Pentagon producer Luis Martinez tweets, and have been monitoring it since about 8:45 a.m. After that F-18 crash in Virginia Beach earlier this month, this has been a really bad time for air safety on the East Coast. We'll keep you posted on what happens.

Update (12:18 p.m. EDT): According to CNN's Twitter, the plane might have as little as 15 minutes worth of fuel left. NYC Aviation shares the flight path, via flightaware.com:

Update (12:36 p.m. EDT): Via Flightaware, here's a close-up of the plane's route during its final minutes:

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.