Sonic boom in DC caused by US craft pursuing Cessna that crashed
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US fighter aircraft set off a sonic boom that rattled the Washington area on Sunday (Jun 4) as it chased an unresponsive Cessna jet that had flown over the region and then later crashed in Virginia.
The plane, a Cessna 560 Citation V, was unresponsive when hailed by authorities as it flew over Washington and northern Virginia, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or Norad, said in a statement.
The Norad aircraft deployed to respond to the Cessna “were authorised to travel at supersonic speeds and a sonic boom may have been heard by residents of the region”, the statement said.
The US Capitol Complex was briefly placed on elevated alert until the airplane left the region, US Capitol Police said. Airspace near Washington has been highly restricted since the Sep 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and New York’s World Trade Center.
President Joe Biden was briefed on the incident, a White House official said.
It wasn’t clear how many people were on board the Cessna, a popular twin-jet business plane first introduced in 1987.
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The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed that a Cessna Citation crashed into mountainous terrain in Montebello, Virginia, around 3.30 pm. The aircraft took off from Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Elizabethton, Tennessee, and was bound for Long Island MacArthur Airport in New York, the FAA said.
Norad aircraft also used flares which may have been visible from the ground in an attempt to draw the pilot’s attention, the agency said.
The crash occurred more than 100 miles to the southwest of Washington. Norad attempted to establish contact with the pilot until it went down in Virginia, the statement said.
The National Transportation Safety Board said it will investigate.
The Anne Arundel County Office of Emergency Management in Maryland also confirmed on Twitter that the loud boom heard by people in the area was the result of a sonic boom, and said there is no threat associated with the incident. BLOOMBERG
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