A Cessna aircraft with an unresponsive pilot prompted an aerial chase with Pentagon jets Sunday when it crossed into protected U.S. airspace over Washington, D.C.—causing a sonic boom heard across the Washington D.C. area, officials said.
In a statement, the Federal Aviation Authority told The Daily Beast the aircraft, a Cessna Citation, took off from Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Elizabethton, Tennessee, and was bound for Long Island MacArthur Airport in New York.
The plane concerned authorities when it flew over restricted D.C. airspace. Pentagon F-16s scrambled and went supersonic to catch up with the runaway plane. According to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD): “The civilian aircraft was intercepted at approximately 3:20 p.m.”
The U.S. Capitol Complex was briefly placed on an elevated alert until the airplane left the area, police said.
The chase sparked panic in the area when residents as far as Maryland and Virginia heard the jets breaking supersonic speed.
“The NORAD aircraft were authorized to travel at supersonic speeds and a sonic boom may have been heard by residents of the region,” NORAD said in a statement Sunday.
At least one of the jet pilots saw the Cessna’s pilot “passed out,” a U.S. official told ABC News. In a statement Sunday night, U.S. Capitol Police said officials were working with federal partners to “monitor an unresponsive pilot who was flying an airplane near the National Capital Region.”
NORAD confirmed that “the pilot was unresponsive and the Cessna subsequently crashed” into mountainous terrain near the George Washington National Forest, Virginia, around 3:30 p.m. local time on Sunday.
NORAD attempted to establish contact with the pilot until the aircraft crashed, a statement said.
Public aviation records show the plane is registered to Encore Motors of Melbourne, a Florida-based company owned by John and Barbara Rumpel.
In a brief interview with The Washington Post, John Rumpel confirmed he was the owner of Encore and said his “entire family” was on the plane at the time, including his daughter, a grandchild and her nanny.
“We know nothing about the crash,” he said. “We are talking to the FAA now. … I’ve got to keep the line clear.”
When reached by The Daily Beast, Barbara Rumpel, who is listed as the president of Encore Motors in Melbourne, declined to comment.
The FAA and NTSB are investigating the crash.
The post Pentagon Jets Chased Passed-Out Cessna Pilot Over D.C. Before Crash appeared first on The Daily Beast.
