They are reporting that a Cessna Citation jet flew over a no-fly zone near the Capitol and the White House and fighter jests were scrambled. There was a loud boom which was heard in several states, but was reported to be a plane/planes breaking the sound barrier; but some people who saw what happened said the boom came from Andrews AFB and not from the air, and some people think that the plane was shot down. Apparently, it crashed in Virginia (did you hear anything , @John Brunner ) either from pilot or aircraft trouble, if it was not shot down. The jet pilots are reporting that they didn’t see signs of life inside the aircraft cockpit, and this might be another case of a pilot dying suddenly. At this point, I am not yet seeing any information about who might have been in the plane that crashed.
The plane was a 7-12 passenger commuter jet. I just went on the web, and The Guardian says there were 4 people on board, and the chaser jets shot off flares to "get the attention of the pilot," to no avail. US News & World Report said the plane was registered to a used car dealership in Florida. The owner confirmed that his daughter, a grandchild and her nanny were on board. The plane took off from Tennessee bound for Long Island, and when it hit New York it abruptly did a 180° turn and made a bee line southwest, taking it over DC. The plane crashed in the southwest part of Virginia in the George Washington National Forest. They had not found the wreckage at the time the article was posted. It does not sound hopeful. The boom was the sound of the pursuing fighter jets. It's so sad. I discovered that you'll find a lot of stories on this incident searching on "Encore Motors of Melbourne, Florida." Searching on "plane crash" brings up a lot of irrelevant results.
Story in the UK. Dont know how true it is. Trump donor's family feared dead after F-16s scrambled to wayward jet (msn.com)
I, too, read that they were Trump supporters and that all 4 passengers were confirmed dead (pilot, mother, daughter, and nanny.) The theory is that the passenger compartment depressurized and everyone passed out long before the jet ran out of fuel. I don't know by what mechanism the jet was headed for "home" in Tennessee when it ran out of fuel over Virginia. I've heard reports that it crashed near Staunton, VA: I live just east of Charlottesville. Staunton is 60 miles from me. As tragic as it is, that jet could have gone down anywhere. There are no places to safely crash in the densely populated DC area, or on Long Island, where it was headed.
No mater what happend .... I'm just glad no additional lives were lost .... on the ground. IMO, the cabin pressure loss seems reasonable for cause. That said, wouldn't emergency oxygen be available ? And wouldn't then the pilot be able to drop to a lower altitude ? and save the flight ? A very strange and sad incident for sure.
I wonder if we have any pilots on board who could address the reason there was no time for recovery. One would think that there would at least be something in the cockpit for such occurrences.