Why Did Payne Stewart’s Plane Crash?

The National Transportation Safety Board determined the crash was a result of crew member incapacitation due to loss of cabin pressure.

On October 25, 1999, a month after the American team rallied to win the Ryder Cup and four months after his U.S. Open victory, Stewart was killed in the crash of a Learjet flying from his home in Orlando, Florida, to Texas for the year-ending tournament, The Tour Championship, held at Champions Golf Club in Houston.

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators concluded that the aircraft failed to pressurize and that all on board were incapacitated by hypoxia as the aircraft passed to the west of Gainesville, Florida.

The aircraft continued flying on autopilot until it ran out of fuel and crashed into a field near Mina, South Dakota.