A sonic boom rattled Washington on Sunday (June 4) as two F-16 fighter jets were scrambling to intercept an unresponsive aircraft that later crashed in Virginia. The F-16s responded to an unresponsive Cessna 560 Citation V aircraft over Washington, DC, and northern Virginia, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said in a statement. Speaking to the news agency Reuters, a person familiar with developments said that four people were on board the Cessna.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the aircraft took off from the Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Elizabethton, Tennessee, and was bound for Long Island MacArthur Airport in New York, about 80 kilometres east of Manhattan.
The aircraft appeared to reach the New York area and made nearly a 180-degree turn, with the flight ending in Virginia. The police said they were searching for the wreckage but were yet to find it.
‘We know nothing about the crash’
Public records showed the Cessna was registered to Florida-based company Encore Motors of Melbourne. John Rumpel, the company’s owner, told The Washington Post his “entire family” was onboard, including his daughter, a grandchild, and her nanny.
“We know nothing about the crash,” he said. “We are talking to the FAA now… I’ve got to keep the line clear.”
NORAD said the aircraft crashed near the George Washington National Forest in Virginia, though the FAA earlier said it crashed into mountainous terrain in a sparsely populated area of southwest Virginia. It added the US military tried to establish contact with the pilot until the aircraft crashed.
“The NORAD aircraft were authorized to travel at supersonic speeds and a sonic boom may have been heard by residents of the region,” it added.
The condition of those onboard was not known yet.
Rumpel, who is also a pilot, said that his family members were returning home to East Hampton, N.Y., after a four-day visit to his home in North Carolina. Speaking to The New York Times, Rumple, his voice breaking, said if the aircraft lost pressurisation, “they all just would have gone to sleep and never woke up.”
“It descended at 20,000 feet a minute, and nobody could survive a crash from that speed,” he added.
Aircraft appeared to be flying on autopilot; Biden briefed on incident
Another person familiar with developments told Reuters on Sunday that the Cessna appeared to be flying on autopilot, and a US official said that the F-16s did not cause the crash. US President Joe Biden, who was at the White House and also played golf Sunday, was briefed on the incident, another official said without specifying whether any emergency precautions were implemented due to the incident.
(With inputs from agencies)
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