A loud bang startled many people in the US capital Washington DC and the neighboring states of Virginia and Maryland on Sunday. The agency that coordinates emergencies in the city of Annapolis near Washington said it was a sonic boom. This can be heard when an airplane moves through the air at supersonic speeds.
According to the authority, it was caused by a flight approved by the Defense Ministry: Air Force fighter jets intercepted a small aircraft near the capital Washington. The pilot of the type light aircraft Cessna Citation was not responsive and did not respond to the authorities’ speeches, said the North American Air Defense Command Norad.
At the mission around 3:20 p.m. (local time). F-16– Fighter jets have been involved. A short time later, the small plane crashed near Montebello in the state of Virginia, south of Washington, the US Federal Aviation Administration said. The plane started in Elizabethton, Tennessee, and should have landed in Long Island, New York.
Norad said the fighter jets had been given permission to fly at supersonic speeds. Flares were also used “to divert the pilot’s attention”. It was initially unclear whether there had been a medical emergency on board and the pilot therefore did not react – and whether the small aircraft had violated airspace restrictions over Washington and the surrounding area. According to CNN information, there were four people on board the small plane, about whom no details were initially known. The machine was not shot down by the military, CNN reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Loud a report of Washington Post It was not clear for an hour what was responsible for the bang and people on social media reported the noise and vibrations that had hit houses. Airspace near Washington has been severely restricted since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center in New York.