Authorities say four people were on board a Cessna business jet that crashed in southwest Virginia Sunday after being pursued by fighter jets in restricted airspace over Washington, D.C. State police said no survivors were found at the remote crash site.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command scrambled F-16 jets to intercept the Cessna 560 Citation V about 3:20 p.m. as the aircraft — originally bound to New York from Tennessee – flew directly into D.C.’s no-fly zone.
The jets were authorized to travel at supersonic speeds, NORAD said in a news release, likely causing a sonic boom heard from Annapolis through Northern Virginia about the same time. The boom triggered alarms, knocked out stoplights and prompted several gas leak calls.
Dispatchers across Northern Virginia were flooded with 911 calls and initially didn't know the cause, but by 4:15 p.m., several law-enforcement agencies reported that a sonic boom had been confirmed.
Flightaware log showing the flight path and deviation of a plane that restricted restricted airspace over D.C. before crashing in George Washington National Forest.
Throughout the incident, NORAD attempted to establish contact with the pilot, the agency’s release said, but the Cessna eventually crashed in the George Washington National Forest near Staunton.
FlightAware.com logs show the plane traveled to New York, then looped back south and flew directly through restricted airspace before the crash. Witnesses reported seeing military fighter jets overhead at the time.
NORAD said flares were also used to try to get the attention of the pilot and may have been seen by the public, as well. The flares burn out completely and posed no danger to anyone on the ground, NORAD said.
The Cessna, registered to Encore Motors of Melbourne Inc. in Florida, took off from Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Elizabethton, Tennessee and was bound for Long Island MacArthur Airport in New York, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
The Washington Post reported that the daughter of Encore Motors's owners Barbara and John Rumpel was on board the plane with her child and a nanny.
Stay with InsideNoVa.com for the latest.
(7) comments
Perhaps change headline picture from F-15s to F-16s
Everyone’s commenting on the maneuvers of the jets and the lag in response time. Four people lost their lives, including a two year old. That’s what’s important.
So your saying people can only discuss the most tragic part of an event and not other element's?
People don't need you to tell them the most tragic and important part they should focus on. ...It's obvious, and goes without saying. That's probably why people talk about other element's.
But Virgina is the home of the Capitan obvious and Lt oblivious.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/crashed-plane-behind-dc-chaos-owned-by-maga-donor-couple
Other news outlets reported that there was a family and a nanny on board. Terrible, tragic and sad news.
However, if this had been an enemy attack, the response, boom and all, would have been too late.
A reminder of where we live - ground zero.
If fighter planes could not respond in time to react to violations of DC airspace, then why would we scramble them at supersonic speed? The F-16s responded as planned based on protocols developed after 9/11. An F-16 can easily overtake all commercially available aircraft. Even when the other aircraft has a head start.
They did respond in time.
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