Private Cessna jet crashes in Virginia after it 'violated DC airspace' and sparked Pentagon to scram

[mystery-ak]

Private Cessna jet crashes in Virginia after it 'violated DC airspace' and sparked Pentagon to scramble fighter jets to intercept - which caused sonic booms heard across the region

    An authorized military drill caused a loud 'explosion' sound in the Washington DC area that shook houses and caused widespread panic
    At around the same time, a plane crashed into the mountainous areas of Virginia
    Social media users reported hearing a huge 'bang' in the city, with some saying it shook their homes

By Melissa Koenig For Dailymail.Com

Published: 15:19 EDT, 4 June 2023 | Updated: 18:11 EDT, 4 June 2023

A small plane that flew over a restricted area of Washington DC likely prompted the Pentagon to scramble an interceptor fighter jet Sunday afternoon.

The private Cessna jet from Elizabethton, Tennessee appeared unresponsive as it came close to both the US Capitol building and the White House at around 3.30pm, Federal Aviation Administration officials say.

The aircraft was on its way to Long Island, New York, but once it reached its destination, it turned around and headed back to Washington DC, flight paths show. A source familiar with the situation told Reuters it appeared to be on autopilot at the time.

US military officials then scrambled fighter jets from Andrews Air Force Base, where President Joe Biden was playing golf at the time, to pursue the Cessna Citation, which can only carry about 12 passengers.

Soon, authorities confirmed that an F-16 fighter plane broke the sound barrier over Chesapeake Bay, which caused a loud 'explosion' sound that shook houses and created widespread panic.

The aircraft eventually crashed in the mountainous regions of Virginia, though military officials deny that the pursuit caused the crash.

A search is now underway for the crash site in Staunton, WFXRTV reports.

The Department of Homeland Security said there is no threat at this time.

https://twitter.com/PenguinSix/status/1665451958570737665

more
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12158275/Explosion-heard-DC-shakes-ground-compared-earthquake-online.html

[Smokin Joe]

Staunton is in the Shenandoah Valley. If the crash was there, they may well have missed the mountains. I wonder what altitude the plane was at when it turned around? (hypoxia?)

[mystery-ak]

No Survivors: Wreckage Found of Wayward Private Jet that Flew over D.C.

The wreckage of a wayward private plane that flew over the nation’s capital Sunday afternoon and caused the military to scramble two F-16 fighter jets before the aircraft crashed in Virginia has been found, officials confirmed Monday.

more
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/06/05/no-survivors-wreckage-found-of-wayward-private-jet-that-flew-over-d-c/

[American Girl]

So, they shot the plane down but aren’t willing to admit it.
They’ll never tell us the truth about what’s really going on

https://defiantamerica.com/heres-who-died-in-the-plane-crash-thats-connected-to-f-16-incident-over-dc/

[Hoodat]

No survivors found at site of plane crash in Blue Ridge


News Virginian Staff Reports 3 hrs ago

All four of the passengers aboard a light aircraft that crashed in the Blue Ridge Mountains west of Charlottesville on Sunday afternoon have died.

Virginia State Police and Augusta County authorities' search for the crash site was hampered by fog and low clouds throughout the afternoon and evening.

“At 3:50 p.m. Sunday … the Virginia State Police was notified of a possible aircraft crash in the Staunton/Blue Ridge Parkway region,” state police said in a statement Sunday night. “Shortly before 8 p.m. … first responders were able to reach the crash site by foot.”

State police announced just before 10 p.m. that the search effort had been suspended. “No survivors were located.” .  .  .

https://newsvirginian.com/news/local/no-survivors-found-at-site-of-plane-crash-in-blue-ridge/article_709e6bf8-1526-5bfc-b299-ce946bc28c8f.html#tracking-source=home-top-story

[Hoodat]

Crash site is near Montebello which is south of Greenville.  I used to go camping near there.

[Wingnut]

Tragic and sad ending for the passengers.  But I had to laugh at the way the city dwellers reacted to the sonic boom.  Poor snowflakes.  Having lived near MacDill AFB and now sandwiched between Eglin and Tyndall it is not unusual to hear the sound of freedom on occasion.  I love it when the transplants post up on our local social media pages freaking out. 

[mystery-ak]

 Four dead, including family members of NRA exec, in crash through restricted airspace that led to sonic boom from F-16 fighter jets
By David Propper,
Allie Griffin and
Ronny Reyes   
June 4, 2023 6:02pm


Barbara Rumpel (left) confirmed that her daughter and granddaughter died in the crash.

A sonic boom was heard across the Washington, DC, area Sunday afternoon when military jets raced after an unresponsive private plane that crossed into restricted airspace and later crashed, killing all four people onboard.

The deafening boom rang out when two F-16 fighter jets were scrambled from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland to investigate the aircraft that was not responding to radio transmissions shortly after 3 p.m., according to the Department of Defense.

Residents around the capital and surrounding communities were left bewildered until more information came out.

The F-16s were deployed after the private Cessna flew into restricted airspace over the capital before it crashed in southwest Virginia.

The fighter jets saw that the pilot of the plane appeared to have passed out, a US official told ABC News.

Rescuers were able to reach the site of the plane crash hours later on foot in a rural part of Shenandoah Valley, and no survivors were found, according to police.

The aircraft departed Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Elizabethton, Tennessee, heading for Long Island MacArthur Airport in New York, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

It had reached the New York area before making a nearly 180-degree turn and flying toward Virginia, according to the flight-tracking website Flight Aware.


more
https://nypost.com/2023/06/04/sonic-boom-startles-washington-d-c-residents/

[Wingnut]

 

[PeteS in CA]

Is there a credible source for the claim the Cessna was shot down?

[Idiot]

On the news this morning they were saying the jet ran out of fuel and crashed.  They also said the auto pilot turned the plane around to head back to Tennesse, which is really odd.  You'd think the auto pilot would just take you to your proposed landing airport, not take you back to where you started out.

[mystery-ak]

Is there a credible source for the claim the Cessna was shot down?

Ha!...that was my first reaction..

[mountaineer]

I read that one of the fighter pilots saw the Cessna pilot, who appeared to be unconscious. Sounded like a Payne Stewart type of situation to me.

[rangerrebew]

Citation Jet Crashes In Virginia After Supersonic Intercept By F-16s (Updated)
A powerful blast was heard all across the region, sparking concerns and confusion from the Capital to the Virginia coast.

BY
HOWARD ALTMAN, TYLER ROGOWAY
|
UPDATED JUN 4, 2023 6:19 PM EDT
Sonic Boom Washington DC
U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Peter Reft/Released)
SHARE
HOWARD ALTMAN
 
TYLER ROGOWAY
 

Apowerful boom and resulting shutter fell across Washington, D.C. and surrounding areas as far as Virginia Beach at around 3:00 P.M. local time on Sunday causing mass confusion and concerns. Residents all over the area reported on social media that their homes shook and that the blast sounded like nothing else they had heard before. Now it appears that a fighter scramble was the culprit.


As always, the good folks over that the Radio Reference forums were listening. According to them, Huntress, the regional air defense sector control, cleared a flight of Vipers to go supersonic over the area.


This goes with initial statements by local authorities.


The War Zone reached out to Andrews AFB where the 121st Fighter Wing's F-16s, which typically cover the area in an air defense role, are based and they pointed us to 1st Air Force for information. We contacted 1st Air Force but have yet to hear a response.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/sonic-boom-spooks-washington-d-c-area

[rangerrebew]

When I was a kid, sonic booms were fairly common.  Now they scare people?

[MOD3]

Merged threads

[PeteS in CA]

Is there a credible source for the claim the Cessna was shot down?

Ha!...that was my first reaction..

The park in which the Cessna crashed is around 100 miles or even a bit more from WashDC, not very compatible with the shoot-down claim.

WashDC has had an air defense identification zone for 20 years, plus or minus a few months, and thus would be known to Eastern seaboard pilots. Further, news reports I've seen, if true, state that attempts were made to contact the Cessna, and received no response. The likely scenario looks like the Cessna pilot had some sort of health problem that rendered him/her unconscious and the passenger were unaware or were unable to do anything. Meanwhile, the ANG F-16s "escorted the Cessna until it was out of the ADIZ and then returned to their base(s).

The updates to the article @rangerrebew posted, which I had not yet read when I posted above, indicate that my guess above is basically correct, except that one or more F-16s accompanied the Cessna until it crashed. That must have been a hard thing for the ANG pilot to witness, being unable to prevent it.

[Hoodat]

@verga lives in that county (although it is a big county).  He may have some insight.

[PeteS in CA]

@verga lives in that county (although it is a big county).  He may have some insight.

Or possibly updates from local coverage, which is likely to be more informative earlier.

[mountaineer]

Loss of oxygen in cabin may have led to Virginia plane crash, expert says
Story by By DENISE LAVOIE and BEN FINLEY, Associated Press

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A loss of oxygen is a leading theory for why an unresponsive business jet flew over the nation’s capital Sunday before it crashed in rural Virginia. But federal investigators are just beginning to look for answers, and an expert cautioned against jumping to conclusions.  ...

MSN

WRIC Richmond reports:

‘A very challenging accident site’: Plane crash investigator shares details of Cessna jet incident
Story by Tannock Blair • 4h ago

NELSON COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — As the investigation continues, new details are being released in connection to a business jet that crashed in mountainous terrain in Nelson County Sunday afternoon.

According to authorities, a Cessna Citation 560 — a turbine twin-engine aircraft — took off from Elizabethtown, Tenn., and was headed to Long Island McArthur Airport in New York. During the en-route portion of the flight, the airplane became unresponsive, prompting F-16 fighter jets to be deployed from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland and intercept the private plane. The plane then crashed approximately 2-3 miles north of Montebello, Va. in heavily wooded and rural terrain around 3:30 p.m. Sunday.  ...

More via MSN

[Kamaji]

MSN

WRIC Richmond reports:More via MSN

Didn't that happen to a professional golfer about 25 years ago?  His plane went silent and then flew across most of the country before finally crashing; I think they determined that there was a loss of cabin pressure that basically knocked everyone out and made it impossible for them to recover.

[Smokin Joe]

Didn't that happen to a professional golfer about 25 years ago?  His plane went silent and then flew across most of the country before finally crashing; I think they determined that there was a loss of cabin pressure that basically knocked everyone out and made it impossible for them to recover.

Yep. Hypoxia kills. They were very likely dead, and at least unconscious before the crash.

[Bigun]

None of that explains why a plane with all aboard dead would do a 180 degree turn in flight.

[DB]

None of that explains why a plane with all aboard dead would do a 180 degree turn in flight.

Apparently the autopilot has that capability once it flew past its programmed destination.

[Kamaji]

None of that explains why a plane with all aboard dead would do a 180 degree turn in flight.

Autoland feature, quite possibly.