The pilot of the hot air balloon crash in Eloy, Arizona, that resulted in four fatalities had ketamine in his system, with elevated levels found in his blood indicating impairment, as reported by the NTSB and a medical examiner. The crash, which occurred after eight skydivers jumped out of the balloon, is still under investigation. Ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic with hallucinogenic effects, was not used in rescue efforts. The pilot, Cornelius Van Der Walt, did not have a prescription for ketamine. Three other victims were identified alongside one survivor, and the NTSB investigation is ongoing.
Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic used medically for induction and maintenance of anesthesia. It is also used as a treatment for depression and pain management. It is a novel compound that was derived from phencyclidine in 1962 in pursuit of a safer anesthetic with fewer hallucinogenic effects.At anesthetic doses, ketamine induces a state of dissociative anesthesia, a trance-like state providing pain relief, sedation and amnesia. Its distinguishing features as anesthesia are preserved breathing and airway reflexes, stimulated heart function with increased blood pressure, and moderate bronchodilation. At lower, sub-anesthetic doses, it is a promising agent for pain and treatment-resistant depression. As with many antidepressants, the results of a single administration wane with time. The long-term effects of repeated use are largely unknown, and are an area of active investigation.Liver and urinary toxicity have been reported among regular users of high doses of ketamine for recreational purposes. Ketamine is an NMDA receptor antagonist, accounting for most of its psychoactive effects.Ketamine was first synthesized in 1962 and approved for use in the United States in 1970. It has been regularly used in veterinary medicine and was extensively used for surgical anesthesia in the Vietnam War. Along with other psychotropic drugs, it is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines. It is available as a generic medication. When used as a recreational drug, it is found both in crystalline powder and liquid form, and is often referred to by recreational users as "Special K" or simply "K". It is used as a recreational drug for its hallucinogenic and dissociative effects.
A hot air balloon crash-landed in the southern Arizona desert, leaving four dead and one critically injured. The cause of the crash is still unknown, and investigations are being conducted by federal agencies such as the NTSB and FAA. The identities of the victims have not been released, pending notification of next of kin.
Esketamine, sold under the brand names Spravato (for depression) and Ketanest (for anesthesia) among others, is the S(+) enantiomer of ketamine. It is a dissociative hallucinogen drug used as a general anesthetic and as an antidepressant for treatment of depression. It is sold under the Esketamine is the active enantiomer of ketamine in terms of NMDA receptor antagonism and is more potent than racemic ketamine.It is specifically used as a therapy for treatment-resistant depression (TRD) and for major depressive disorder (MDD) with co-occurring suicidal ideation or behavior. Its efficacy for depression is modest and similar to that of other antidepressants. Esketamine is not used by infusion into a vein for anesthesia as it is only FDA approved for depression in the form of an intranasal spray (the parent compound Ketamine is most often administered intravenously) and under direct medical supervision as a nasal spray.Adverse effects of esketamine include dissociation, dizziness, sedation, nausea, vomiting, vertigo, numbness, anxiety, lethargy, increased blood pressure, and feelings of drunkenness. Less often, esketamine can cause bladder problems. Esketamine acts primarily as a N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist but also has other actions.In the form of racemic ketamine, esketamine was first synthesized in 1962 and introduced for medical use as an anesthetic in 1970. Enantiopure esketamine was introduced for medical use as an anesthetic in 1997 and as an antidepressant in 2019. It is used as an anesthetic in the European Union and as an antidepressant in the United States and Canada. Due to misuse liability as a dissociative hallucinogen, esketamine is a controlled substance.
A hot air balloon in Rochester, Minnesota, clipped a power line, causing the basket to detach and fall 20 to 30 feet to the ground. Two passengers sustained minor injuries while escaping the brush fire caused by the collision. The incident, captured on video, led to the balloon drifting away. Investigations by the FAA and NTSB are ongoing. In a separate incident in Melbourne, a man fell to his death from a hot air balloon mid-flight.
Ketamine has had a wide variety of medicinal and recreational uses since its discovery in 1962.
2-Fluorodeschloroketamine (also known as 2'-Fl-2-Oxo-PCM, Fluoroketamine and 2-FDCK) is a dissociative anesthetic related to ketamine. Its sale and use as a designer drug has been reported in various countries. It is an analogue of ketamine where the chlorine group has been replaced by fluorine. Due to its recent emergence, the pharmacological specifics of the compound are mostly unclear, but effects are reported to be similar to its parent compound, ketamine.
Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP) is the use of prescribed doses of ketamine, the drug, as an adjunct to psychotherapy sessions. KAP shows significant potential in treating mental disorders such as treatment-resistant depression (TRD), anxiety, obsessive–compulsive disorders (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD), and other conditions. It can also be used for those experiencing substance abuse and physical pain. While it is primarily used as a veterinary anaesthetic, ketamine has also been found to have rapid analgesic and hallucinogenic effects, which has sparked interest in its use as an antidepressant. Despite initial trials of its use in the treatment of mental disorders focussing primarily on its antidepressant effects, newer studies are attempting to harness its psychedelic effects to bring about altered states of consciousness, which will augment the adjunct psychotherapy. Ketamine's neuroplasticity-promoting effects strengthen the cognitive restructuring that takes place through traditional psychotherapy, thereby leading to long-lasting behavioural change. KAP offers promising directions for research on new antidepressant alternatives, but is still not sufficiently defined or evaluated as a treatment combination.
Dutch police have discovered dozens of boxes containing 2,000 kilograms of Ketamine in a shed in Muideberg, east of Amsterdam, with a street value of over 50 million euros. This is the largest amount of ketamine ever found in the Netherlands. A 55-year-old man was arrested on the premises, and two children were taken to an emergency shelter. Ketamine is not illegal in the Netherlands, but trading without registration carries a maximum penalty of six years imprisonment. The police estimate that the stash has a street value of almost 55 million euros. Ketamine trafficking is often accompanied by money laundering and weapons possession.
Arketamine (developmental code names PCN-101, HR-071603), also known as (R)-ketamine or (R)-(−)-ketamine, is the (R)-(−) enantiomer of ketamine. Similarly to racemic ketamine and esketamine, the S(+) enantiomer of ketamine, arketamine is biologically active; however, it is less potent as an NMDA receptor antagonist and anesthetic and thus has never been approved or marketed for clinical use as an enantiopure drug. Arketamine is currently in clinical development as a novel antidepressant.Relative to esketamine, arketamine possesses 4 to 5 times lower affinity for the PCP site of the NMDA receptor. In accordance, arketamine is significantly less potent than racemic ketamine and especially esketamine in terms of anesthetic, analgesic, and sedative-hypnotic effects. Racemic ketamine has weak affinity for the sigma receptor, where it acts as an agonist, whereas esketamine binds negligibly to this receptor, and so the sigma receptor activity of racemic ketamine lies in arketamine. It was suggested that this action of arketamine may play a role in the hallucinogenic effects of racemic ketamine and that it may be responsible for the lowering of the seizure threshold seen with racemic ketamine. However several subsequent studies have indicated that esketamine is more likely to induce dissociative events, while studies in patients undergoing electroconvulsive therapy suggested that esketamine is a potent inducer of seizures. Esketamine inhibits the dopamine transporter about 8-fold more potently than does arketamine, and so is about 8 times more potent as a dopamine reuptake inhibitor. Arketamine and esketamine possess similar potency for interaction with the muscarinic acetylcholine receptors.
Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 was a scheduled U.S. domestic flight operated by Alaska Airlines from Portland International Airport in Portland, Oregon, to Ontario International Airport in Ontario, California. Shortly after takeoff on January 5, 2024, a door plug (a structure installed to replace an optional emergency exit door) on the Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft, which was not bolted in place due to a manufacturing error, blew out causing an uncontrolled decompression of the aircraft. The aircraft returned to Portland for an emergency landing. All 171 passengers and six crew members survived the accident, with three receiving minor injuries. An investigation of the accident by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is ongoing. A preliminary report published on February 6 said that four bolts, intended to secure the door plug, had been missing when the accident occurred and that Boeing records showed evidence that the plug had been reinstalled with no bolts prior to initial delivery of the aircraft.
A small plane crashed near Interstate 40 in Tennessee, killing the pilot, Victor Dotsenko, his wife, Rimma, and their three children, David, Adam, and Emma. The family was from King Township in Ontario, Canada. The crash occurred after Victor Dotsenko reported engine and power failure to the control tower. Investigations by the FAA and NTSB are ongoing to determine the cause of the crash.
Trans World Airlines Flight 800 (TWA800) was a Boeing 747-100 that exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York, on July 17, 1996, at approximately 8:31 p.m. EDT, 12 minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport, on a scheduled international passenger flight to Rome with a stopover in Paris.: 1 All 230 people on board died in the crash; it is the third-deadliest aviation accident in U.S. history. Accident investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) traveled to the scene, arriving the following morning: 313 amid speculation that a terrorist attack was the cause of the crash.The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and New York Police Department Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) initiated a parallel criminal investigation. Sixteen months later, the JTTF announced that no evidence of a criminal act had been found and closed its active investigation.The four-year NTSB investigation concluded with the approval of the Aircraft Accident Report on August 23, 2000, ending the most extensive, complex, and costly air disaster investigation in U.S. history at that time. The report's conclusion was that the probable cause of the accident was the explosion of flammable fuel vapors in the center fuel tank. Although it could not be determined with certainty, the likely ignition source was a short circuit.: xvi Problems with the aircraft's wiring were found, including evidence of arcing in the fuel quantity indication system (FQIS) wiring that enters the tank. The FQIS on Flight 800 is known to have been malfunctioning; the captain remarked about "crazy" readings from the system about two minutes and 30 seconds before the aircraft exploded. As a result of the investigation, new requirements were developed for aircraft to prevent future fuel-tank explosions.
Asiana Airlines Flight 214 was a scheduled transpacific passenger flight originating from Incheon International Airport near Seoul, South Korea. On the morning of July 6, 2013, the Boeing 777-200ER operating the flight stalled and crashed on final approach into San Francisco International Airport in the United States. Of the 307 people on board, three died; another 187 were injured, 49 of them seriously.: 13 Among the seriously injured were four flight attendants who were thrown onto the runway while still strapped in their seats when the tail section broke off after striking the seawall short of the runway. It was the first fatal crash of a Boeing 777 since the aircraft type entered service in 1995.The investigation by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) concluded that the accident was caused by the flight crew's mismanagement of the airplane's final approach. Deficiencies in Boeing's documentation of complex flight control systems and in Asiana Airlines' pilot training were also cited as contributory factors.: 129
The Department of Justice is investigating the Alaska Airlines flight 1282 emergency landing on Jan. 5, when a door plug blew out mid-flight. The DOJ probe will inform a review of whether Boeing complied with a previous settlement over 737 Max jet incidents. The Federal Aviation Administration had grounded Boeing 737 Max jets after crashes in 2018 and 2019. Investigators found missing bolts in the door plug area, leading to the blowout. Boeing's lack of documentation regarding the door plug has raised concerns, with the NTSB and FAA also conducting investigations.
Israeli tech couple Liron and Naomi Petrushka, known for their successful tech ventures including selling a company for $242 million, tragically died in a plane crash near the California-Nevada border. The single-engine TBM aircraft they were on crashed while attempting to land at Truckee Tahoe Airport. The couple had been living in California and were active investors in tech initiatives. Law enforcement agencies, FAA, and NTSB are investigating the crash. Liron Petrushka was also a former soccer player for Hapoel Ramat Gan Givatayim in Israel.
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