Plane that flew over DC and led to fighter jet scramble had departed from Elizabethton airport
Published 10:35 am Monday, June 5, 2023
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The unresponsive plane that flew over the nation’s capital on Sunday and caused the military to scramble jets originated its flight in Elizabethton.
The incident took place Sunday afternoon, when a Cessna Citation turned around over New York’s Long Island and flew a straight path over Washington D.C. before crashing near Montebello, Virginia, around 3:30 p.m.
The Star has reached out to Manager Dan Cogan with the Elizabethton Municipal Airport and are awaiting comment.
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 radio transmissions and later crashed.
Flight tracking sites showed the jet suffered a rapid spiraling descent, dropping at one point at a rate of more than 30,000 feet per minute before crashing in the St. Mary’s Wilderness.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command later said in a statement that the F-16 was authorized to travel at supersonic speeds, which caused a sonic boom that was heard in Washington and parts of Virginia and Maryland.
The 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, 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 newspaper he didn’t have much information from authorities but suggested the plane could have lost pressurization.
“It descended at 20,000 feet a minute, and nobody could survive a crash from that speed,” Rumpel told the newspaper.
Note: The Associated Press contributed to this report.
