Virginia plane crash latest: Plane that crashed lost contact with air traffic control just after takeoff
NTSB investigates fatal plane crash in Virginia
According to reports, the pilot of the Cessna Citation private jet, who caused panic in Washington DC on Sunday when he flew into restricted airspace and then crashed into a wooded area in Virginia, was seen “slumped down” in the cockpit before the accident.
The disaster killed four people, including the adopted daughter and granddaughter of 75-year-old Florida businessman John Rumpel, who had lost a daughter in a diving accident nearly 30 years earlier.
Mr Rumpel, owner of Melbourne-based Encore Motors and known as a prominent contributor to conservative political causes in the spirit of Donald Trump, was quoted by The Washington Post when he said his “entire family” was on the plane when it crashed.
As the doomed flight en route from Tennessee to MacArthur Airport in Long Island, New York, entered Washington DC airspace, a loud sonic boom was heard throughout the capital as two F-16s were dispatched to take down the plane to intercept as it flew past sensitive locations such as the White House and the US Capitol.
First responders at the crash site told CNN that it left a “crater” in rural Virginia and that human remains were found at the accident site.
The plane that startled Washington lost contact with air traffic control shortly after takeoff
A business jet whose irregular flight path near the US capital lost contact with air traffic controllers shortly after takeoff from Tennessee, the Associated Press reports.
The plane bound for Long Island eventually crashed into a remote mountain in Virginia, but not before military officials had to station warplanes over Washington.
Josh MarcusJune 6, 2023 23:24
The remains must be taken to the doctor’s office for autopsy and identification
The Virginia State Police said human remains are being taken to the state coroner’s office for autopsy and identification. According to the authorities, the victims included the pilot and three passengers. There were no survivors.
The plane departed from Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Tennessee at 1:13 p.m. Sunday bound for MacArthur Airport in Long Island, New York. According to the NTSB, air traffic control lost communications with the aircraft during the climb.
VIDEO: Connections between Virginia and Florida plane crash victims
Connections of Virginia plane crash victim to Florida
Gustav KilanderJune 6, 2023 10:00 p.m
The journey to the crash site took several hours
On Monday, it took investigators several hours to trek to the rural area where the plane crashed about 60 miles (97 kilometers) southwest of Charlottesville. They assume that they will be on site for at least three to four days.
At a briefing Monday, NTSB investigator Adam Gerhardt said the wreckage was “heavily fragmented” and that investigators would examine the most sensitive evidence at the site. The wreck may then be helicoptered to Delaware for further study.
It was not clear if the aircraft had a flight data recorder. A preliminary report will be published in 10 days.
The plane took an erratic trajectory
Family and friends identified two of the victims as an entrepreneur known in New York real estate circles and her two-year-old daughter.
Three US officials said Monday that fighter jet pilots assigned to intercept the business jet reported the pilot was slumped and unresponsive.
The officials had been briefed on the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to discuss details of the military operation.
The plane took an erratic trajectory — turning over Long Island and flying directly over the nation’s capital — prompting the military to ground fighter jets.
This caused a sonic boom that was heard in Washington, Maryland, and Virginia.
Plane that crashed in Virginia lost contact with air traffic controllers on ascent, authorities say
Just minutes after beginning a doomed trip that ended on a remote mountain in Virginia, a corporate jet pilot failed to respond to air traffic control orders and the situation was soon reported to a network supporting military, security and and law enforcement agencies include aviation officials.
Although the jet, which had just taken off from a Tennessee airport, made no contact during Sunday afternoon’s climb, it continued to fly to its intended destination on Long Island, then turned around and flew back to Virginia, where it crashed into a mountain and the killed four people on board.
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John Kirby explains why DC residents heard the sonic boom
Gustav KilanderJune 6, 2023 20:00
The 2021 sonic boom sparked concerns about an earthquake
In the US, sonic booms can still be heard from the country’s military planes. In 2021, a sonic boom sparked widespread fears that an earthquake could hit the Oregon coast.
Military officials with the Oregon Air National Guard’s 142nd Wing said a single-pilot F-15C and a two-pilot F-15D Eagle accidentally reached supersonic speeds while flying over the Pacific Ocean.
The Concorde
The Concorde, an Anglo-French supersonic aircraft, enjoyed several years of success after its first commercial flights in 1976. However, their deafening sonic booms irritated people on the ground and restricted where the aircraft could operate.
In the US, the plane mainly flew to New York and Washington. With four jet engines and afterburners, the aircraft could fly at twice the speed of sound and reach a cruising altitude of nearly 60,000 feet, well above other commercial airliners. It promised to revolutionize long-distance travel by cutting the flight time from the US east coast to Europe from eight hours to three and a half hours.
The Concorde never caught on. The aircraft’s economics posed a challenge and its sonic booms led to it being banned from many overland routes. Only 20 were built; 14 of them were used for passenger traffic.
In 2003, both British Airways and Air France discontinued the Concorde flight.
NASA experiments in the 1960s found that sonic booms were “annoying,” “irritating,” and “terrifying.”
In the 1960s, NASA collected data on the effects sonic booms had on people who experienced them. Experiments showed that many described the booms as “annoying,” “irritating,” and “terrifying,” NASA noted.
In 1973, the Federal Aviation Administration banned supersonic flights over land “with the expectation that such flights would cause a sonic boom reaching the ground,” wrote the Congressional Research Service.