The ”ghost plane” crash that killed four people — and triggered a sonic boom from F-16 fighter jets flying to DC to intercept it — left a “crater” indicating a near-nosedive into the ground, pulverizing the aircraft.
The private Cessna flew into restricted airspace over the capital Sunday afternoon, with the pilot appearing to be unresponsive at the controls, possibly rendered unconscious when the pressure inexplicably dropped. The aircraft then crashed near Raphine, Va., leaving a “crater” that suggested almost a nosedive, one of the first four responders at the site told CNN.
The horrific crash site had at most only four recognizable pieces from the plane, with a first responder noting: “There was nothing really bigger than your arm.”
The “highly fragmented” wreckage and the fact that the scene is extremely remote in a heavily wooded, mountainous region makes it “a very challenging accident site,” said lead National Transportation Safety Board prober Adam Gerhardt to reporters Monday.
Rescuers were only able to reach the site — in the Shenandoah Valley near the Blue Ridge Parkway — on foot, and no survivors were found, just human remains, officials said.
The Cessna was not required to have a black box, but investigators will search in the hopes there was one, Gerhardt said. He said a preliminary report on the crash could be out in about 10 days, although a final report would likely take one to two years.
John Rumpel of Encore Motors of Melbourne Inc. confirmed that his daughter, 2-year-old granddaughter and a nanny were aboard the doomed flight along with their pilot.
The private aircraft had departed Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Elizabethton, Tenn., heading for Long Island MacArthur Airport in New York, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
It reached the New York area before making a nearly 180-degree turn and flying toward Virginia, according to the flight-tracking website Flight Aware.
After the plane entered a restricted zone and with no response from the pilot, two F-16s were deployed and were authorized to travel at supersonic speeds, causing the sonic boom that was heard across the capital and neighboring communities in Maryland and Virginia.
After flying over DC, the “ghost plane” continued its chaotic descent, at one point falling more than 30,000 feet per minute before crashing.
The Cessna appeared to be flying on autopilot, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. It’s not clear why the plane was nonresponsive or why it crashed.
Rumpel told the New York Times his family was returning to their East Hampton home Sunday after visiting him in North Carolina.
He said he didn’t have much more information but suggested the plane may have lost pressurization, which would mean “They all just would have gone to sleep and never woke up.”
Along with owning the Melbourne, Florida-based company, Rumpel and his wife, Barbara, are notable political donors who previously gave $250,000 to the Trump Victory PAC in 2020.
Barbara is also known for her work advocating for gun rights and has been a member of the NRA’s Women’s Leadership Council since 2002 and an executive committee member of the council since 2012, according to her LinkedIn.
After the deadly crash, she wrote on Facebook: “My family is gone, my daughter and granddaughter.”
