The private jet had triggered the intervention of two F-16 fighters, which themselves generated a powerful sonic boom over Washington. On Monday, US authorities announced the death of the four occupants of the aircraft. “No survivors were found” by rescuers when they reached the crash site in Virginia on foot shortly before 8 p.m. (2 a.m. French time), police in this eastern state said. States, which ended the search.
Two F-16 fighters had been mobilized due to the lack of response from this private jet “Cessna 560 Citation V over Washington and northern Virginia”, the Aerospace Defense Command of the United States reported on Sunday. North America (NORAD) in a press release. The pilot of one of the F-16s saw the Cessna pilot slumped in his cockpit, the washington postsuggesting loss of consciousness.
Depressurization of the device?
The hunters fired decoys into the sky in an attempt to get his attention, without success. The aircraft crashed in a mountainous area in southwestern Virginia, about 270 km from Washington, according to US Civil Aviation (FAA). The intervention of the hunters, who by crossing the sound barrier caused a thundering noise, caused windows and walls to shake for miles around, and in particular in the federal capital, raising many questions on social networks.
According to several aviation experts, the Cessna pilot could have lost consciousness due to a depressurization of the aircraft. Such a cause was behind a similar crash in 1999 of a Learjet-designed aircraft, which killed golfer Payne Stewart and four others. In that accident, the Learjet, which was to connect Florida to Texas, had flown for hours on autopilot before running out of fuel and crashing in South Dakota, more than 1,500 km from its intended destination.
“My family is no longer in this world”
On Sunday, the owner of the company in whose name the Cessna was registered, John Rumpel, told the daily washington post that his whole family was on board, including his daughter as well as a grandchild and his nanny. In response to messages of condolence posted on his Facebook page, his wife Barbara Rumpel wrote: “My family is no longer in this world, my daughter and my granddaughter. »
The jet took off from Elizabethton, Tennessee (east), to join Long Island, New York State (northeast), according to the FAA. The Flightradar24 flight-tracking website, however, said the aircraft turned back after flying over Long Island and headed south, passing over Washington and Virginia. The US Capitol and adjoining buildings in Washington “were briefly placed on high alert until the aircraft left the area,” according to Capitol Police.