People in Washington D.C. and parts of Maryland and Virginia were startled by a loud sonic boom that happened around 3:10 a.m. local time on Sunday afternoon as F-16 fighter jets sped off to intercept a military plane flying into the region with an unresponsive pilot.
The U.S. air defense sent the F-16 fighter jets to intercept a small private which entered the airspace over the national capital before crashing in Virginia with no survivors found.
Authorities from the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) scrambled as six F-16s from three separate airbases after the pilot of a Cessna jet—reportedly carrying four people—became unresponsive while the plane entered restricted airspace over Washington D.C.
The loud sonic boom that sounded like an explosion, which shook houses and windows, was caused by two of the F-16 which were authorized to fly at supersonic speeds.
The D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management immediately issued a statement saying they were aware of reports of a “loud ‘boom’” adding there was “no threat at this time.”
The fighter jets tried to draw the attention of the Cessna pilot using flares that could be seen from the ground, but the plane, which has been identified as a Cessna 560 Citation V, eventually crashed near the George Washington National Forest in Virginia.
According to flight data, the plane took off from the city of Elizabethton in Tennessee and was scheduled to land at an airport in Long Island, New York. The plane got to Long Island but then, it turned around, and flew straight over Washington D.C., before crashing in Virginia. The cause of the crash is not yet known.
The aircraft was owned by Florida-based Encore Motors which is owned by John Rumpel. The CEO was not on board the crashed flight but told the Washington Post that his “entire family,” including his daughter, a grandchild, and her nanny, were on board.
