Federal investigators probe cause of deadly crash of plane intercepted by U.S. fighter jets

Chantal Da Silva and Jay Blackman and Tom Costello and David K. Li
Updated ·2 min read
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Federal investigators are looking to determine what caused the crash of an unresponsive plane that saw military jets scramble to intercept it after the Cessna was spotted flying off course over the Washington, D.C., area before crashing in Virginia on Sunday.

The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation into the incident, with officials arriving at the crash site near Montebello on Monday to "begin the process of documenting the scene and examining the aircraft," the agency said in a statement.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command, known as NORAD, said F-16 fighter aircraft intercepted the plane after it was seen flying off course over the U.S. capital area. They tried to make contact with the pilot repeatedly using flares until just before the plane crashed near George Washington and Jefferson National Forest.

NORAD said a sonic boom “may have been heard by residents of the region,” with the sound reported around 3 p.m. to local law enforcement and on social media throughout the District of Columbia-Northern Virginia-Maryland area, known as the DMV.

Authorities secure the entrance to Mine Bank Trail, an access point to the rescue operation along the Blue Ridge Parkway where a Cessna Citation crashed over mountainous terrain near Montebello, Va., on June 4, 2023. (Randall K. Wolf / AP)
Authorities secure the entrance to Mine Bank Trail, an access point to the rescue operation along the Blue Ridge Parkway where a Cessna Citation crashed over mountainous terrain near Montebello, Va., on June 4, 2023. (Randall K. Wolf / AP)

Pilots from the Capital Guardians, a unit of the 113th Wing of the D.C. National Guard, found that the pilot was incapacitated, a senior government official said. They said the plane may have run out of fuel.

It is still not clear what might have caused the pilot to be incapacitated.

The craft had been headed northeast toward Long Island before it turned around near New York City.

“The whole 180-degree turn around New York and then tracking directly over Washington, D.C. That sounds very odd to me," NBC News aviation analyst Jeff Guzzetti said.

Sunday's tragedy immediately led Guzzetti to think of the 1999 Learjet crash that killed professional golfer Payne Stewart. All on board that craft were incapacitated by lack of oxygen.

"It’s reminiscent of some sort of mechanical malfunction with the pressurization of the aircraft which would lead the occupants to become incapacitated because of a lack of oxygen," Guzzetti said.

No survivors in the crash had been found by Sunday evening, and the search was suspended for the four people officials said had been on board the plane.

The plane was registered to a corporation based in Melbourne, Florida, owned by John Rumpel, who said Sunday that his daughter and granddaughter, along with their nanny and the plane’s pilot, had been on board.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com