A private jet crashed in Virginia after being unresponsive to aircraft traffic controllers over the DC area On Sunday, June 4, 2023. The tragedies seem to have been caused by the pilot being possibly incapacitated at the controls.
We do not know the cause of the pilot’s possible incapacitation, or if the pilot was incapacitated for sure, an investigation will need to confirm this. However On Oct. 25, 1999, the crew of a chartered jet of famous golfer Payne Stewart’s Crashed in somewhat of a similar manner. In that flight, the cabin of the aircraft lost cabin pressure and all souls on board lost consciousness, leaving that aircraft eventually running out of fuel and crashing. Much like with this incident that happened on Sunday, June 4, 2023, fighter jets were scrambled to investigate the unresponsive aircraft.
In this week’s On Aviation™ Digest, we share some stories on this developing situation. What we know now is that the pilot was unresponsive to aircraft traffic controllers and fighter jets were scrambled over the DC area to investigate. The aircraft eventually crashed in Virginia.
No survivors found after plane intercepted by fighter jets over DC crashes in Virginia
WASHINGTON — A wayward and unresponsive business plane that flew over the nation’s 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 found.
The Federal Aviation Administration says the Cessna Citation took off from Elizabethton, Tennessee, on Sunday and was headed for Long Island’s MacArthur Airport. Inexplicably, 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.
By The Associated Press
F-16 fighters chased unresponsive plane near DC area before it crashed in Virginia; no survivors found, authorities say
WASHINGTON – F-16 fighters from the D.C. National Guard scrambled Sunday at supersonic speed to intercept a private plane whose pilot was unresponsive, according to North American Aerospace Defense Command.
The fighters intercepted the Cessna 560 Citation V plane at about 3:20 p.m., and it crashed near the George Washington National Forest in Virginia. The pilot never responded to attempts to establish communication, according to Northern Command.
U.S. Capitol Police officials said they were working with federal partners to monitor the unresponsive pilot as the plane flew near the National Capital Region on Sunday afternoon. According to Capitol Police, the U.S. Capitol Complex was “briefly placed on an elevated alert until the airplane left the area.”
Search efforts by state and local agencies were underway for several hours. By Sunday night, no survivors were found and Virginia State Police suspended search efforts.
By Thao Nguyen and Tom Vanden Brook | Asbury Park Press
First responders say fatal crash of unresponsive plane left a ‘crater’ with few recognizable pieces
Four first responders who arrived at the scene of Sunday’s fatal private plane crash near Raphine, Virginia, told CNN the plane left a “crater,” and they believe it impacted the ground at a very steep angle.
The first responders, who spoke on the condition they not be identified, described a grisly scene. There were perhaps four recognizable pieces of wreckage from the plane, they said. “There was nothing really bigger than your arm,” said one.They also found signs of human remains.
Federal officials are investigating the crash of the unresponsive plane that flew near the US Capitol region on Sunday, prompting military fighter jets to rush to intercept the aircraft before it went down in Virginia, leaving no survivors, authorities say.
By Elizabeth Wolfe | CNN
Sonic boom: Unresponsive plane over DC leads F-16s to investigate
D.C. Air National Guard F-16s were scrambled on Sunday from Maryland — causing a sonic boom heard throughout large portions of Washington, D.C., and the surrounding area — to investigate what the North American Aerospace Defense Command called an “unresponsive” Cessna business jet that had entered a restricted area over the nation’s capital and ultimately crashed into a forest area of southwest Virginia.
“In coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration, NORAD F-16 fighter aircraft responded to an unresponsive Cessna 560 Citation V aircraft over Washington, D.C., and northern Virginia on June 4, 2023,” a statement from NORAD’s Continental U.S. Region said.
“The pilot was unresponsive and the Cessna subsequently crashed near the George Washington National Forest, Virginia,” it added.
The Virginia State Police were en route to the crash site, which is located in a mountainous area of southwest Virginia.
By ABC News
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