By MICHAEL BALSAMO and ASHLEY THOMAS (Associated Press)
WASHINGTON (AP) — A temperamental and unresponsive business jet that flew over the nation’s capital on Sunday afternoon prompted the military to scramble a fighter jet before the plane crashed in Virginia, officials said. . The fighter jet caused a loud sonic boom that was heard throughout the capital region.
Hours later, police said rescuers had reached the plane crash site in a rural part of the Shenandoah Valley and no survivors had been found.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the Cessna Citation took off from Elizabethtown, Tennessee, on Sunday and was heading for Long Island’s MacArthur Airport. Inexplicably, the plane circled back over Long Island in New York and followed a straight course over DC before crashing into mountainous terrain near Montebello, Virginia at around 3:30 p.m.
It was not immediately clear why the plane was unresponsive, why it crashed or how many people were on board. The plane flew directly over the nation’s capital, even though it was technically flying over one of the most restricted airspaces in the country.
A US official confirmed to The Associated Press that the military aircraft rushed to respond to the small plane, which was unresponsive to radio transmissions and then crashed. The official was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the military operation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Flight tracking sites showed the jet had undergone a rapid spiral descent, at one point falling at a speed of over 30,000 feet per minute before crashing into the St. Mary’s Wilderness.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command later said in a statement that the F-16 was cleared to travel at supersonic speeds, which caused a sonic boom that was heard in Washington and parts of Virginia and Maryland.
“During this occurrence, the NORAD aircraft also used flares – which may have been visible to the public – in an attempt to get the pilot’s attention,” the statement said. “Flares are used with the utmost respect for the safety of intercepted aircraft and people on the ground. Flares extinguish quickly and completely and there is no danger to people on the ground when dispensed.
Virginia State Police said officers were notified of the potential crash shortly before 4 p.m. and rescuers reached the crash site on foot about four hours later. No survivors were found, police said.
The plane that crashed was registered to Florida-based Encore Motors of Melbourne Inc. John Rumpel, who runs the company, told The New York Times that his daughter, 2-year-old granddaughter, nanny and the pilot were on board the plane. They were returning home to East Hampton, Long Island, after visiting his home in North Carolina, he said.
Rumpel, a pilot, told the newspaper he didn’t have much information from authorities but hoped his family wouldn’t suffer and suggested the plane might have lost pressurization.
“I don’t think they’ve found the wreckage yet,” Rumpel told the newspaper. “He descended at 20,000 feet per minute, and no one could survive a crash at that speed.”
A woman who identified herself as Barbara Rumpel, listed as the company’s president, said she had no comment Sunday when contacted by The Associated Press.
The episode brought back memories of the 1999 crash of a Learjet that lost cabin pressure and flew aimlessly across the country with professional golfer Payne Stewart on board. The plane crashed in a pasture in South Dakota and six people died.
President Joe Biden was golfing at Joint Base Andrews when the fighter jet took off. Anthony Guglielmi, spokesman for the US Secret Service, said the incident had no impact on the president’s movements on Sunday. Biden was golfing at the military base in Maryland with his brother in the afternoon.
A White House official said the president had been briefed on the crash and the noise from the jamming plane was low at Joint Base Andrews.
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Associated Press writers Chris Megerian and Zeke Miller in Washington and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
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