Photo: Mike Pont/WireImage
The National Transportation Safety Board says in a preliminary report that a former staffer of both theClintonandObamaadministrations died in a private jet after pilots switched off an aircraft stabilizing system while in flight, causing the aircraft to pitch violently.
Hyde was one of five people who were aboard the jet that was shaken March 3 while traveling from Keene, New Hampshire, to Leesburg, Virginia, said Sarah Sulick, a spokesperson for the National Transportation Safety Board, per theAssociated Press.
Initial reports suggested it was turbulence that caused the Bombardier Challenger 300 airplane to jolt upward, but the NTSB’s report details that the movement occurred after pilots responded to automated cockpit warnings and switched off the system that helps keep the aircraft stable.
It is unclear if Hyde was seated or moving within the cabin when the incident occurred, but the NTSB reports that “as soon as the switch position was moved, the airplane abruptly pitched up.”
The Associated Press reports that the ensuing movement of the aircraft subjected the passengers “to forces about four times the force of gravity.”
Per the NTSB report, the pilot in control of the aircraft “immediately with both hands regained control of the airplane in what he estimated to be a few seconds after the airplane’s pitch oscillated up and down.”
According to the AP, Hyde’s husband and their son, along with the pilot and co-pilot, were not injured in the incident.
The AP further notes that the FAA issued adirectiveabout Bombardier Challenger 300 jets last year, “after multiple instances in which the horizontal stabilizer on the aircrafts caused the nose of the plane to turn down after the pilot tried to make the aircraft climb.”
According to Hyde’spersonal bio, she worked as chief executive officer of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, associate director at the White House Office of Management and Budget, and senior adviser to the deputy secretary of state under PresidentBarack Obama.
She also served as counsel to the9/11 Commissionand as special assistant to the deputy attorney general in PresidentBill Clinton’s administration.
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Meanwhile, both the National Transportation Safety Board and FBI are continuing toinvestigate the incident, and will analyze information from the flight data recorder, cockpit voice recorder and other sources of information such as weather data.
source: people.com
