NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A lack of oxygen that incapacitated the pilot and three passengers is likely what caused a private jet to become unresponsive before flying over the nation’s capital and prompting the military to scramble fighter jets in 2023, according to a final report from the National Transportation Safety Board released on Tuesday.
The oxygen problem was likely caused by a loss of cabin pressure, according to the report. Investigators could not determine the exact reason for the pressure loss, but they noted that the Cessna Citation had a number of maintenance issues. They included no pilot-side oxygen mask and supplemental oxygen at its minimum serviceable level.
“At that level, oxygen would not have been available to the airplane occupants and passenger oxygen masks would not have deployed in the event of a loss of pressurization,” according to the report. It concluded that, “Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s and owner/operator’s decision to operate the airplane without supplemental oxygen.”
Four people died in the June 4, 2023 accident. They were pilot Jeff Hefner, 69; New York real estate broker Adina Azarian, 49; Azarian’s 2-year-old daughter Aria; and Evadnie Smith, 56, who worked as live-in nanny for Aria. Prior to the crash, Azarian, Aria and Smith were in North Carolina to visit Azarian’s adoptive parents.
Hefner stopped responding to air traffic control instructions within minutes of taking off from Elizabethton, Tennessee, at 1:13 p.m. The plane flew to New York, near its destination at Long Island’s MacArthur Airport, then turned around and flew a straight path over D.C. Fighter jets sent after it caused a loud sonic boom that was heard across the capital region as they raced to catch up. The plane then plunged almost straight down in into a mountain near Montebello, Virginia, and burst into flames at 3:23 p.m.
Fighter pilots tasked with intercepting the wayward flight said Hefner “was laying and slumped completely over into the right seat and remained motionless throughout their observations,” according to NTSB records. They did not observe any movement within the cabin area nor any shapes that resembled a person.
Once Hefner lost consciousness, the plane likely was directed along its path by autopilot “until a point at which it was no longer able to maintain control,” according to the report.
Lack of oxygen, called hypoxia, can affect people differently, but it is known to cause confusion, disorientation and diminished judgment and reactions, according to the report. A pilot would likely have between 30 seconds and 2 minutes to take corrective action. That time could be less if the depressurization is rapid.
“However, gradual depressurization can be as dangerous or more dangerous than rapid depressurization because of its potential to insidiously impair a pilot’s ability to recognize and respond to the developing emergency,” according to the report. “Cognitive impairment from hypoxia makes it harder for affected individuals to recognize their own impairment.”
The report noted that Hefner had several health issues and had been prescribed at least one medication that was potentially impairing but did not list those issues as contributing to the accident.
FILE - Search and rescue teams leave the command post at St. Mary's Wilderness en route to the Blue Ridge Parkway to search for the site where a Cessna Citation crashed in the mountainous terrain near Montebello, Va., June 4, 2023. (Randall K. Wolf via AP, File)
The Bank of Japan raised its key policy rate to a 30-year high on Friday in a widely anticipated move that could rattle world markets.
The two-day BOJ policy meeting wrapped up with the 0.25% hike in its benchmark short-term rate. That took the policy rate to 0.75%, its highest level since September 1995.
In a statement, the central bank said the decision was unanimous and that it expected to raise rates further if there are no major changes in the outlook for the economy.
The 0.75% rate is still low by most standards, but the BOJ has kept that rate near or below zero for years, trying to pull the economy out of a deflationary funk. Since the pandemic, most other central banks, like the U.S. Federal Reserve, have raised rates to counter spiking inflation and then begun cutting them to help their slowing economies recover momentum.
Japan’s own economy contracted at a 2.3% annual rate in the last quarter, but improved business sentiment and price pressures have led the BOJ to relent and raise rates. Here are some things to know about its decision.
Since Japan's economic bubble burst in the early 1990s, the central bank has kept borrowing costs low to encourage more spending by businesses and consumers.
Lower interest rates have also helped the central bank manage the country's massive national debt, which amounts to nearly triple the size of the economy.
As Japan’s population has aged and begun declining, its economy has slowed and that led to deflation, or falling prices due to weak demand. Even with cheap credit, investment has lagged, stunting economic growth.
In early 2013, the central bank launched what was dubbed a “big bazooka” of monetary easing, cutting interest rates and purchasing government bonds and other securities to help channel more money into the economy. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the benchmark interest rate was at minus 0.1%. The BOJ only began raising it in 2024, the first hike in 17 years, after inflation stabilized above its target of about 2%.
The Japanese yen has weakened against the U.S. dollar and many other major currencies. That has raised the cost, in yen terms, of imported food, fuel and other items needed to keep the world's fourth largest economy running.
The strong appetite for investing in dollar-denominated shares of companies linked to the artificial intelligence boom has also pulled money out of the yen and into dollars.
So inflation has risen faster than wages, squeezing household budgets and raising costs for businesses.
Higher interest rates are expected to raise the value of the yen against the dollar as investments flow into Japan seeking higher yen-denominated yields. Friday's move would signal the central bank's intention of continuing to “normalize” its monetary policy with further rate hikes next year.
“The BOJ’s stance towards rate hikes reflects the fact that inflation is becoming entrenched," Kei Fujimoto, a senior economist at SuMi Trust, said in a commentary. “If drivers such as a further depreciation of the yen accelerate inflation going forward, it is possible that the pace of rate hikes will also increase accordingly.”
The dollar is worth about 156 Japanese yen, nearly twice its level in 2012 and near its highest level this year.
Even small changes in interest rates can have a big impact on markets. A rate hike in Japan would undermine an investment strategy known as the “carry trade.” That involves investors borrowing cheaply in yen and then using that money to invest in higher paying assets elsewhere.
Any such major shift is likely to reverberate across world markets. Carry trades are lucrative when stocks and other investments are climbing, but losses can snowball when many traders face pressure to sell stocks or other assets all at once.
A rate hike also is expected to crimp demand for other assets, including cryptocurrencies. Reports last week that the BOJ would go ahead and raise rates caused the price of bitcoin, for example, to drop below $86,000. The original cryptocurrency had bolted to record highs near $125,000 in early October.
Judging the timing and scale of changes to interest rates and other monetary policies are the biggest challenge for central banks, given the time it takes for such moves to ripple throughout the real economy and financial markets.
Like the Federal Reserve, Japan's central bank struggles to balance the need to boost business activity and create jobs with the imperative of containing inflation.
The BOJ held off on raising rates earlier given uncertainties over how U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs might hit automakers and other exporters. A deal setting U.S. duties on imports from Japan at 15%, down from the earlier plan for a 25% rate, has helped ease those concerns.
BOJ Gov. Kazuo Ueda has indicated he believes wages will continue to rise in Japan as companies compete for a shrinking pool of workers, helping to support growth.
Market watchers will be watching closely to see what Ueda says Friday about the outlook for future rate increases.
The Bank of Japan (BOJ) Gov. Kazuo Ueda arrives at the headquarters of BOJ in Tokyo, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. (Kyodo News via AP)
A general view of a container port seen from a helicopter in Tokyo, on Oct. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
FILE - A Japanese flag flutters at the Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo on July 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama, File)
