Sonic boom: aircraft flies erratically over Washington, crashes in Virginia; no survivors
Private Plane Crashes in Virginia
The cause of the crash and why the plane was not responding to messages are unknown at this time.
WASHINGTON – A private plane flew erratically over the U.S. capital Sunday, prompting the military to deploy fighter aircraft before the plane crashed in Virginia, officials said. The fighter jets caused a sonic boom that was heard throughout the Washington region.
Hours later, police said rescue crews had arrived at the site where the aircraft went down in a rural part of the Shenandoah Valley and found no survivors.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the Cessna Citation jet took off from Elizabethtown, Tennessee, bound for MacArthur Airport in Long Island, New York. Inexplicably, the aircraft turned around to turn back while over Long Island and headed directly toward Washington before crashing over mountainous terrain near Montebello, Virginia, at approximately 3:30 p.m. The crash occurred in the afternoon.
The cause of the crash and why the plane was not responding to messages are unknown at this time. As to how many people were on board, Telemundo Noticias reported 4 people. The aircraft flew directly over the nation’s capital, although it was technically flying over some of the country’s most restricted airspace.
A federal official confirmed to The Associated Press that a military aircraft was deployed to respond to the erratic behavior of the private Cesna, which was unresponsive to radio transmissions and subsequently crashed. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the details of the military operation.
Flight monitoring portals showed the plane suffered a nosedive, descending at one point at a rate of more than 30,000 feet per minute, before crashing in the St. Mary’s Wilderness.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) later noted in a statement that an F-16 was cleared to travel at supersonic speeds, which caused the sonic boom.
“During this event, the NORAD aircraft also used flares, which could have been seen by the public, in an attempt to attract the pilot’s attention,” the statement said. “Flares are used with the utmost care to the safety of the intercepted aircraft and persons on the ground. The flares are quickly and completely consumed, and persons on the ground are not in danger when they are used.”
Virginia State Police said its troopers were notified of a possible crash shortly before 4:00 p.m. and rescuers arrived on foot at the crash site about four hours later. They found no survivors, police added.
The aircraft that crashed was registered to Encore Motors of Melbourne Inc. John Rumpel, who manages the company, told The New York Times that his daughter, 2-year-old granddaughter, nanny and pilot were aboard the plane. They were returning to his residence in East Hampton, Long Island, after visiting him at his North Carolina residence, he said.