In a dramatic turn of events, the United States was thrown into turmoil as F-16 fighter jets scrambled to chase down a light aircraft with an unresponsive pilot that violated airspace around Washington, D.C. The aircraft later crashed into the mountains of Virginia, leaving no survivors, according to Virginia state police.
The pursuit of the wayward Cessna Citation by jet fighters caused a sonic boom over the U.S. capital, causing alarm among residents in the Washington area. Four individuals were reportedly onboard the Cessna, as confirmed by a reliable source. Typically accommodating between seven to twelve passengers, the Cessna belonged to Encore Motors, a company based in Melbourne, Florida, as per Flight Aware, a flight-tracking website.
John Rumpel, owner of Encore Motors, expressed his lack of knowledge regarding the crash, informing The Washington Post that his daughter, a grandchild, and their nanny were aboard the ill-fated flight. Rumpel mentioned ongoing communication with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) before abruptly ending the call.
Efforts were made by the U.S. military to establish contact with the pilot, to no avail, before the Cessna crashed near the George Washington National Forest in Virginia. The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) stated that the aircraft seemed to be on autopilot. NORAD authorized supersonic speeds for its aircraft during the chase and employed flares to gain the pilot's attention, potentially causing a sonic boom heard by residents in the region. However, it was later clarified that the fighters were not responsible for the crash.
The ill-fated Cessna had departed from Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Tennessee and was en route to Long Island MacArthur Airport in New York. The Federal Aviation Administration, along with the National Transportation Safety Board, announced their intention to investigate the incident.
The incident brings to mind past cases of unresponsive pilots, such as the tragic death of golfer Payne Stewart in 1999 when an aircraft, carrying Stewart and four others, flew for thousands of miles with the occupants unresponsive before crashing in South Dakota. The cause was attributed to oxygen deprivation resulting from the loss of cabin pressure.
In another incident in 2014, a small U.S. private plane with an unresponsive pilot veered off course and triggered a security alert, leading to a fighter jet escort before crashing off the east coast of Jamaica.
The resounding sonic boom heard in the Washington area on Sunday startled numerous residents, prompting them to take to social media and share accounts of a loud noise that reverberated through the ground and walls. The impact of the noise was felt even as far away as northern Virginia and Maryland.
As investigations into the crash continue, questions linger about the circumstances that led to the pilot's unresponsiveness and the tragic conclusion in the mountains of Virginia.