The Pentagon scrambled F-16 fighter jets Sunday afternoon to intercept an unresponsive plane that flew over Washington and later crashed in a rural Virginia forest, officials said, with the military aircraft causing a loud sonic boom heard in and around the city.
Federal Aviation Administration officials said that the Cessna Citation took off from Tennessee and was destined for Long Island.
The plane apparently turned around while over New York and headed for Washington, though it’s not clear why, nor is it clear why the plane crashed.
Rescuers reached the crash site late Sunday night and reportedly found no survivors.
Military officials said they tried to make contact with the pilot until the aircraft went down in Virginia’s George Washington National Forest but were unsuccessful.
The military’s efforts to contact the pilot could be clearly seen and heard from the nation’s capital.
“The NORAD aircraft were authorized to travel at supersonic speeds and a sonic boom may have been heard by residents of the region,” U.S. Northern Command said in a statement Sunday evening.
“During 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.”
The airspace over Washington is among the most heavily restricted in the world, and incidents like the one Sunday are rather rare.
U.S. officials told The Associated Press that the Cessna was not responding to radio transmissions in the time leading up to the crash.
The plane appears to have made a rapid descent, at one point reaching 30,000 feet per minute, the speed of a direct plunge into the earth.
The aircraft reportedly is registered to a Florida company, Encore Motors of Melbourne Inc.
John Rumpel, head of the company, told The New York Times that his daughter, 2-year-old granddaughter and others were aboard the plane.
There was no immediate indication Sunday night that the military shot down the plane or otherwise played a role in the crash.
The incident comes just a few months after a string of unidentified objects were shot down over North American skies, including an object shot down over Lake Huron on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 12.
The UFO shoot-downs came on the heels of a flight across the U.S. by a suspected Chinese spy balloon. American fighter jets shot down the balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4.
• This story is based in part on wire service reports.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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