That is definitely some scary stuff, especially having heard several stories of guys having the AP on and the plane just kept on going. Great to see that the ATC's understood what was going on and were able to effectively help the pilot out.
Wow!! Does this thread bring back a bad memory.
Don't have time to research the details, but here it is:
The day of JFK's funeral, big event in DC...I believe it was a Sunday...very quite flight ops at NAS JAX...was a very junior Ensign with VA-35 @ JAX...assigned to squadron Duty Officer...Ready Room on upper deck of a hangar there...large window area overlooking RW 09/27...was watching the event in DC on a small B & W TV...heard an A/C winding up, stood by the window, watched an A3 taking off on 09...then turned north, up the US coast.
Found out later that day...4 crew aboard...one guy bumming a ride in observers seat...flight dropped him off at some Military base (?)up the coast, then took off, climbing out northbound again...ATC lost verbal contact, as flight climbed thru assigned cruising altitude...couple USN jets, out of Oceana (?) tasked to join up with A3...did so, and reported the visible crew completely unresponsive/disabled or dead...
RIP!
A/c reached max altitude, flying a large 360, over eastern VA, then out over Atlantic offshore...upon fuel exhaustion (sp), flamed out, made slow descent, until bellying in,almost undamaged, in a field in Va...rescuers were very shortly on site.
Read the Accident Report months later...
IIRC, investigators found the cabin pressurization switch in wrong position...cockpit not pressurized...masks, of course, were off, attached to APH-5 on one side only...
FWIW...I used to smoke in the A4...(I know...stupid!)...don't recall, but we obviously had a gauge indicating cockpit pressurization/alt...which was IN MY SCAN!!
Banty
) w/ 4-5 UNSATS on that one flight. He "thanked" me. He didn't (nor should have ...) get his Wings. 
