2023-06-05 20:38:08
UNITED STATES
Four dead in jet crash that mobilized two F-16s in Washington
Two F-16 fighters chased an unresponsive private jet in the Washington area on Sunday, causing a sonic boom.
Published
The pilot of one of the F-16s saw the Cessna pilot slumped in his cockpit, the Washington Post said on Monday, suggesting a loss of consciousness. (Pretext image)
AFP
The American authorities announced on Monday the death of the four occupants of a private jet whose lack of response, while flying on Sunday near Washington, had triggered the intervention of two F-16 fighters, which themselves generated a powerful sonic boom above the federal capital.
“No survivors were discovered” by rescuers when they reached the crash site in Virginia on foot shortly before 8 p.m. (2 a.m. Monday, Swiss time), police in that state told AFP. is from the United States, which terminated the search.
Loss of consciousness
Two F-16 fighters had been mobilized due to the lack of response from this private jet “Cessna 560 Citation V over Washington and northern Virginia”, the Aerospace Defense Command of the United States reported on Sunday. North America (NORAD) in a press release. The pilot of one of the F-16s saw the Cessna pilot slumped in his cockpit, the Washington Post said on Monday, suggesting a loss of consciousness.
The hunters fired decoys into the sky in an attempt to get his attention, without success. The aircraft crashed in a mountainous area in southwestern Virginia, about 270 km from Washington, according to US Civil Aviation (FAA).
The intervention of the hunters, who by crossing the sound barrier caused a thundering noise, caused windows and walls to shake for miles around, and in particular in the federal capital, raising many questions on social networks.
Depressurization
According to several aviation experts, the Cessna pilot could have lost consciousness due to a depressurization of the aircraft. Such a cause was behind a similar crash in 1999 of a Learjet-designed aircraft, which killed golfer Payne Stewart and four others.
In that accident, the Learjet, which was to connect Florida to Texas, had flown for hours on autopilot before running out of fuel and crashing in South Dakota, more than 1,500 km from its intended destination.
On Sunday, the owner of the company in whose name the Cessna was registered, John Rumpel, told the daily “Washington Post” that his entire family was on board, including his daughter as well as a grandchild and his nanny. . In response to messages of condolence posted on his Facebook page, his wife Barbara Rumpel wrote: “My family is no longer in this world, my daughter and my granddaughter.”
The jet took off from Elizabethton, Tennessee (east), to reach Long Island, New York (northeast), according to the FAA. The flight-tracking website Flightradar24, however, said the aircraft turned back after flying over Long Island to head south, passing over Washington and Virginia. The United States Capitol and ancillary buildings in Washington “were briefly placed on high alert until the aircraft left the area,” according to Capitol Police.
(AFP)
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