4 die as plane crashes in Va. after mysterious DC flyover
WASHINGTON — The pilot of a business jet that flew over Washington and crashed into a remote part of Virginia on Sunday appeared to be slumped over and unresponsive, fighter jet pilots reported, according to two U.S. officials briefed on the matter. The officials were not authorized to discuss details of the military operation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Federal investigators trudged through rugged terrain Monday in search of wreckage from a business jet to solve the mystery of why it veered off course and slammed into a mountain. Four people aboard died, authorities said.
A day after the plane flew over the nation’s capital, prompting the military to scramble fighter jets, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a brief update that the pilot and three passengers were killed and that the plane was “destroyed” in the crash.
Their identities weren’t immediately released.
NTSB investigator Adam Gerhardt told reporters it will take investigators a while to reach the remote crash scene about 2 to 3 miles north of Montebello. They expect to be on the scene for at least three days.
Attention on the crash and its cause was heightened by its unusual flight path over Washington, D.C., and a sonic boom caused by military aircraft heard across the capital, and parts of Maryland and Virginia. The North American Aerospace Defense Command said in a statement that a military aircraft was authorized to travel at supersonic speeds, which caused the sonic boom. The aircraft also used flares to try to get the pilot’s attention.
Speaking at a briefing Monday morning, Gerhardt said the wreckage is “highly fragmented,” and investigators will examine the most delicate evidence on the scene, after which the wreckage will be moved, perhaps by helicopter, to Delaware, where it can be further examined, he said.
The plane is not required to have a flight recorder, but it is possible that there are other avionics equipment that will have data that they can examine, Gerhardt said.
Virginia State Police said the crash site is over a mile from the Blue Ridge Parkway in Augusta County, near the Nelson County line.
Investigators will look at when the pilot became unresponsive and why the aircraft flew the path that it did, he said. They will consider factors that are examined in such probes including the plane, its engines, the weather, pilot qualifications and maintenance records, he said.
A preliminary report will be released in 10 days and a final report in one to two years, Gerhardt said.
The FAA said the Cessna Citation took off from Elizabethton, Tennessee, on Sunday and was headed for Long Island’s Macarthur Airport. Inexplicably, the plane turned around over New York’s Long Island and flew a straight path down over D.C. before it crashed around 3:30 p.m.