A wayward and unresponsive business plane that flew over the nation's capital Sunday afternoon caused the military to sܫcramble a ♐fighter jet before the plane crashed in Virginia, officials said.
The fighter jet caused a loud sonic boom that 🥃was heard across the capit🌱al region.
Hours la🌠ter, police s🌃aid rescuers had reached the site of the plane crash in a rural part of the Shenandoah Valley and that no survivors were found.
The Federal Aviation Administr💟ation says the Cessna Citation👍 took off from Elizabethton, Tennessee, on Sunday and was headed for Long Island's MacArthur Airport.
Inexplicably𓃲, the plane turned around over New York's Long Island and flew a straight path down over D.C. before it crashed over mountainous terrain near Montebello, Virginia, around 3:30 p.m.
It was not immediately clear why the plane was nonrespဣonsive, why it crashed or how 🌌many people were on board.
Theꦉ plane flew directly over the nation's capital, though it was technically flying above some of the most heavily restricted airspace in the nation.
A U.S. official confirmed to The Associated Press that the military jet had scrambled to respond to the small plane, which wasn't responding to rad🔯🌺io transmissions and later crashed.
The official was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the military operation and spoke ༒on condition of anonym𓃲ity.
Flight tracking sites showed the jet suffered 🃏a rapid spiralling descent, dropping at one point at a rate of more than 30,000 feet per minute before crashing in the St. Mary's W❀ilderness.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command later said in a statement that the F-16 was authorised to travel at supersonic speeds, whic🧜h caused a sonic boom that wജas heard in Washington and parts of Virginia and Maryland.
“During this event, the NORAD aircraft also used flares – which may have been visib🐬le to the public – in an attempt to draw attention from the pilot,” the statement🐲 said.
“Flares are employed with highest regard for safety of the intercepted aircraft and people on the ground. Flares burn out quickly and completely and there is no d♔anger to the people o♐n 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 sit🦹e by foot🐓 around four hours later.
No survivors were found, police said.
The plane that crashed was registered to Encore Motors of Melbourne Inc, which is based in Florida. John Rumpel, who runs the company, told Tꦍhe New York Times that his daughter, 2-year-old granddaughter, her nanny and the pilot were aboard the plane. They were returning to their home in East Hampton, on Long Island, after visiting his house in North Carolina, he said.
Rumpel, a pilot, told the news▨paper he didn't have much information from authorities but suggested the plane ꦓcould have lost pressurization.
“It descended at 20,000 feet a minute,🏅 and nobody could survive a crash from that speed,” Rumpel told the newspaper.
A woman who identif🥃ied herself as Barbara Rumpel, listed as the president of the company, said she had no comment Sunday when r🔥eached by The Associated Press.
The episode brought back memories of the 1999 crash of a Learjet that lost cabin press🐟ure and flew aimlessly across the country with professional golfer Payne Stewart aboard.
The jet 𝄹crashed in🃏 a South Dakota pasture and six people died.
𝓡 Pres⭕ident Joe Biden was playing golf at Joint Base Andrews around the time the fighter jet took off.
Anthony Guglielmi, spokesperson for the U.S. Secret Service, sa🅷id the incident had no impact on the president's move♍ments Sunday.
Biden was playing golf at the Maryland military base with his brothe🍌r in the afternoon.
A White House official said the president had been briefed on the crash and that the sound of the scrambling aircraft was faint at Joint Base Andrews.
