No survivors found after an unresponsive plane crashes in Virginia

Hannah Murdock
·2 min read
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., Sunday, June 4, 2023.
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., Sunday, June 4, 2023. | Randall K. Wolf, Associated Press

An unresponsive business plane crashed in Virginia after it had flown over Washington, D.C., Sunday.

The civilian aircraft prompted the North American Aerospace Defense Command to deploy F-16 fighter jets to intercept the plane and attempt to establish contact with the pilot.

“The NORAD aircraft were authorized to travel at supersonic speeds,” causing people in the capital region to hear a sonic boom, a statement from NORAD reads.

A fighter jet was able to intercept the small plane but the pilot did not answer.

“The pilot was unresponsive and the Cessna subsequently crashed near the George Washington National Forest, Virginia,” the statement from NORAD reads. “NORAD attempted to establish contact with the pilot until the aircraft crashed.”

Search and rescue teams arrived at the crash site in the Shenandoah Valley, but found no survivors, The Associated Press reported.

Four people were in the Cessna plane before it crashed, John Rumpel, the aircraft’s owner, told The New York Times. His daughter, 2-year-old granddaughter, her nanny and the pilot were all aboard the plane, according to Rumpel.

The plane “took off from Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Elizabethton, TN and was bound for (Long Island MacArthur Airport) in New York,” a statement on Twitter from the Federal Aviation Administration reads.

It is unclear at the moment why the pilot was unresponsive; however, federal officials are investigating the cause of the crash, CNN reported.