A loud, explosive sound rang through the Washington, D.C. metroplex area, after military jets were scrambled to try and catch up to a Cessna aircraft after the pilot became unresponsive. The plane eventually crashed and killed all four of the individuals onboard. The explosion was actually a sonic boom, which tells you just how fast the jets were going in their attempt to reach the aircraft.
According to a Fox News report, the Annapolis Office of Emergency Management revealed that the big boom heard on Sunday was the result of fast flying military jets who received orders from the Defense Department to pursue the Cessna. The sonic boom could be heard as far east as the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and as far west as Manassas, Virginia.
The loud boom that was heard across the DMV area was caused by an authorized DOD flight. This flight caused a sonic boom. That is all the information available at this time.
— Annapolis OEM (@AnnapolisOEM) June 4, 2023
“The loud boom that was heard across the DMV area was caused by an authorized DOD flight,” the office stated. “This flight caused a sonic boom. That is all the information available at this time.”
Officials from the city of Bowie, Maryland also confirmed the sonic boom folks heard over the weekend was the result from a plane that had departed from Joint Base Andrews.
NORAD, otherwise known as the Continental U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command, went on to say that two F-16 fighter jets took off from an Air National Guard base that is located near Atlantic City, New Jersey, along with two others out of the DC National Guard at Andrews Air Force Base in response to the unresponsive Cessna.
We have confirmed that the loud boom heard in Bowie was a sonic boom from a plane out of Joint Base Andrews.
— Bowie Maryland (@CityofBowie) June 4, 2023
The jets were given full authorization to fly at supersonic speeds so they could catch up to the passenger plane.
The fighters intercepted the Cessna at 3:20 p.m. NORAD stated that they continued attempts to make contact with the pilot right up until the plane crashed close to the Washington National Forest located in the state of Virginia.
NORAD also explained that folks who were on the ground may have witnessed flares that were used while the jets were attempting to intercept the Cessna, which tend to burn out fast enough that there wouldn’t be any sort of threat posed to people below.
The Federal Aviation Administration said that the Cessna originally took off from Elizabethton, Tennessee, with the intent to travel to Islip, New York. However, the plane ended up crashing in the lightly populated city of Montebello, Virginia at three in the afternoon.
Search efforts were called off after first responders on foot discovered the location of the crash and found no survivors. The Cessna was registered to John Rumpel of Encore Motors of Melbourne, Inc. Tragically, his daughter, 2-year-old granddaughter, the nanny, and the pilot were all on the plane and died in the crash.
Rumpel, speaking with the media, said that the family was returning home to East Hampton, New York after spending time with him in North Carolina.
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