US: Plane over capital causes military jet to scramble, later crashes

A wayward and unresponsive business plane that flew over the nations capital Sunday afternoon caused the military to scramble a fighter jet before the plane crashed in Virginia officials said The fighter jet caused a loud sonic boom that was heard across the capital region Hours later police said rescuers had reached the site of the plane crash in a rural part of the Shenandoah Valley and that no survivors were foundThe Federal Aviation Administration says the Cessna Citation took off from Elizabethtown Tennessee on Sunday and was headed for Long Islands MacArthur Airport Inexplicably the plane turned around over New Yorks Long Island and flew a straight path down over DC before it crashed over mountainous terrain near Montebello Virginia around 330 pmIt was not immediately clear why the plane was nonresponsive why it crashed or how many people were on board The plane flew directly over the nations capital though it was technically flying above some of the most heavily restricted airspace in the nationA US official confirmed to The Associated Press that the military jet had scrambled to respond to the small plane which wasnt responding to radio transmissions and later crashed The official was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the military operation and spoke on condition of anonymity Flight tracking sites showed the jet suffered a rapid spiraling descent dropping at one point at a rate of more than 30000 feet per minute before crashing in the St Marys WildernessThe North American Aerospace Defense Command later said in a statement that the F16 was authorized to travel at supersonic speeds which caused a sonic boom that was heard in Washington and parts of Virginia and MarylandDuring this event the NORAD aircraft also used flares which may have been visible 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 danger to the people on the ground when dispensed Virginia State Police said officers were notified of the potential crash shortly before 4 pm and rescuers reached the crash site by foot around four hours later No survivors were found police saidThe plane that crashed was registered to Encore Motors of Melbourne Inc which is based in Florida John Rumpel who runs the company told The New York Times that his daughter 2yearold 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 saidRumpel a pilot told the newspaper he didnt have much information from authorities but hoped his family didnt suffer and suggested the plane couldve lost pressurization I dont think theyve found the wreckage yet Rumpel told the newspaper It descended at 20000 feet a minute and nobody could survive a crash from that speedA woman who identified herself as Barbara Rumpel listed as the president of the company said she had no comment Sunday when reached by The Associated Press The episode brought back memories of the 1999 crash of a Learjet that lost cabin pressure and flew aimlessly across the country with professional golfer Payne Stewart aboard The jet crashed in a South Dakota pasture and six people diedPresident Joe Biden was playing golf at Joint Base Andrews around the time the fighter jet took off Anthony Guglielmi spokesperson for the US Secret Service said the incident had no impact on the presidents movements Sunday Biden was playing golf at the Maryland military base with his brother 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 AndrewsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever