Jeff Hefner, pilot of 'ghost plane' crash, was known as 'Mr. Safety'

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The pilot who flew the "ghost plane" that crashed in rural Virginia, killing four, had more than 40 years of experience in the skies and was known as "Mr. Safety," his family and former clients said.

Jeff Hefner is believed to have fallen unconscious while flying a private Cessna jet owned by Florida business magnate John Rumpel, with Rumpel's daughter, granddaughter, and their nanny onboard as it crashed in a near-nosedive freefall on Sunday.

Florida attorney Dan Newlin said he was shocked by the incident as Hefner has flown him at least 100 times over the last five years, noting that he specifically chose Hefner as his law firm's pilot for his diligence.

"When it came to flying, he was always super serious, super cautious, and very focused," Newlin told the Washington Post. "He knew aviation inside and out. It was his passion."

Hefner's family said in a statement that he began his career in the skies as a crop duster more than 40 years ago before going into the commercial flight industry.

Hefner, a father of three, was a retired Southwest Airlines captain and former member of its union's board of directors. He had also recently earned the Federal Aviation Administration's highest-level medical certificate and was approved to fly Boeing 737s.

"We are devastated by the news of this tragedy which took the lives of Jeff and all three passengers," his family said. "Our hearts are full of sorrow for John and Barbara Rumpel for the loss of their daughter, granddaughter, and nanny."

Giovanni Atiles Garcia, a fellow pilot who had flown with Hefner last week, said family meant everything to his late friend, who had a picture of his wife smiling in front of a jet on the lock screen on his phone.

Garcia echoed the description of Hefner as a safety nut, telling WaPo that his fellow pilot always went above and beyond when it came to his passengers, a trait Garcia said carried over from his days at Southwest.

The airline described Hefner as a "defender of his fellow pilots’ safety, careers, and family," in a statement following news of his death.

"We offer our deepest condolences to his wife, his family, and his friends. The aviation community has lost a true champion."

Hefner was flying New York realtor Adina Azarian, her 2-year-old daughter, Aria, and nanny Evadine Smith home to East Hampton following a trip to the Rumpel's North Carolina home on Sunday when tragedy struck.

Officials said the plane did not attempt to make a descent into Long Island's MacArthur Airport after reaching New York, instead, it turned around back to Tennessee, veering into restricted airspace over Washington, DC, and triggering a government response.

After Hefner failed to respond to calls from officials on the ground, six F-16 planes were deployed and allowed to fly at supersonic speeds to catch up to the falling plane, which caused a sonic boom to be heard throughout the capital area.

One of the pilots deployed reported seeing Hefner slumped on his seat before the Cessna crashed into a mountainside in rural Virginia, leaving a charred crater in its wake.

Although the National Transportation Safety Board said it faces difficulty investigating the cause of the crash, as it remains unknown if the plane carried a black box, experts believe the plane suffered from loss of pressurization.

The loss of pressure would have resulted in Hefner and his passengers suffering hypoxia, a loss of oxygen that would have knocked them unconscious and left the plane to fly on autopilot before running out of fuel.

The NTSB is expected to have a preliminary report out by next week, with a full report unlikely to come out until at least a year.