F-16's chase small jet over washington, crashes in Virginia

The United States scrambled F-16 fighter jets in a supersonic chase of a light aircraft with an unresponsive pilot that violated airspace in the Washington D.C. area and later crashed into the mountains of Virginia, officials said.

F-16's chase small jet over washington, crashes in Virginia

I dont like minimal posts but i dont have much to go on, reports on the news with little more information than in the articles posted

Wondering if the jet crashed or was shot down? the reports says it wasn't shot down.
Why was the pilot was unresponsive?
Seems there were at least 4 people on board, 2 kids
Reports also state they haven't yet found the wreckage, but I thinks its more like they haven't reached it yet, they know exactly where it is
anyone in the areas witness this?
Jet fighters chase small plane
another "jet fighters chase small plane

a reply to: datguy

At least one military pilot saw that the Cessna pilot had passed out, ABC reported.

That was my first thought.

Encore owner John Rumpel told the Washington Post his daughter, a grandchild and her nanny were on board.

So sad when something like this happens. RIP.

a reply to: datguy

If true was it similar to the Payne Stewart incident?

a reply to: nugget1

Paine Stewart redux ???

en.wikipedia.org...



Did pilots pass out from hypoxia ....??

I think the F-16s were doing a drill and were not involved with the Cessna crash.
F-16s saw no pilot. possible hypoxia, as mentioned.
Cessna's original path was Elizabethton TN to Long Island NY. was on its way back to TN, apparently on autopilot.




flight path of the plane in question

a reply to: putnam6

hard to say yet, there are reports of someone witnessing the pilot as being passed out. still doesn't explain how/why it got to its destination near NY and then turned around.

a reply to: ElGoobero

even if they were on a drill, they broke the sound barrier, which is probably the reason anyone knows about it happening at all. im still wondering if they shot it down for some reason security related.

originally posted by: datguy
a reply to: putnam6

hard to say yet, there are reports of someone witnessing the pilot as being passed out. still doesn't explain how/why it got to its destination near NY and then turned around.

a reply to: ElGoobero

even if they were on a drill, they broke the sound barrier, which is probably the reason anyone knows about it happening at all. im still wondering if they shot it down for some reason security related.

presumably the guy flew to NY and turned and passed out on the way back, autopilot set.
conspiracy: he parachuted out and let the plane go to test the air defense system.
soon we'll know if the pilot is still in the plane.

a reply to: ElGoobero

i just hate how every news article i read is cut and paste almost verbatim

they are trying to paint it in the same light of the payne stewart crash

I still don't believe the sonic boom story.
I think it was an explosion, and while I know the difference between the two I don't think most on the ground could tell or ask questions if told.
Also they state that the sonic boom was heard in and around the DC area at the same time this plane was crashing in Virginia mountains, about 200km away

On top of that the initial reports I read stated that they didn't know where it crashed, but now NORAD is all over it, and the jets were authorized to break the sound barrier

This was supposedly a private Jet Plane that hit the mountain so hard, it vanished. (Fox News "experts")

Found an article with video clips of the reported sonic boom

Pentagon jets chase passed out cesna pilot

a reply to: ElGoobero

He was out before getting to New York. He was filed to Islip, and over flew it before crashing. He reported at problem at 30,000 feet. He ran out of fuel and the plane went into a spiral, reaching -29000 fpm and crashed into a mountain. He wasn’t shot down.

a reply to: carewemust

It didn’t “disappear”. The weather was too bad to find it right away. As usually “journalists” are FOS about Aviation stories.

I need to eat dinner and sleep but I just want to add something interesting and very rabbit hole ish

The owner of the plane, has at least 10 LLC's in Florida all under the same name all within the past 10 years
This is something I usually see when I'm researching investment firms/partners and is sometimes a sign that there is some money laundering going on.

Cant really say more than, it is just a suspicion at this point. I would need a lot more time to come up with anything definitive.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: carewemust

It didn’t “disappear”. The weather was too bad to find it right away. As usually “journalists” are FOS about Aviation stories.

The aviation "expert" on FoxNews said the plane ran out of fuel which is why there was no fireball when it hit the mountain, making it seem to hit the mountain and vanish.

The latest. Two children and Nanny onboard, says the grieving father.

www.foxnews.com...

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: ElGoobero

He was out before getting to New York. He was filed to Islip, and over flew it before crashing. He reported at problem at 30,000 feet. He ran out of fuel and the plane went into a spiral, reaching -29000 fpm and crashed into a mountain. He wasn’t shot down.

You know me Zaphod, not doubting you at all, just asking questions and wasting time, till I can fall asleep honestly. Here is the playback of the flight, why did Flightracker lose its altitude at approximately 27,000 feet? FWIW have followed flights live for a while mostly if one of my kids was flying somewhere, but other relatives too, especially when they have to fly for work have never seen the altimeter lose it's feed ever when a plane was landing most times you could follow it to the ground. Just a couple of weeks ago my youngest flew out of Ohio heading to Alaska and had flights while in Alaska too, I followed every flight 7 total to each landing (don't judge) not one did I see a loss of an altitude reading. Have no doubt Ive seen it be lost during a flight before but it always seems to recalibrate.

www.flightradar24.com...

Why did it have a drop in airspeed right past 18:31. Additionally weather radar at 9:04 pm had no rain or clouds. Yes, I know mountains can get foggy and misty but isn't that usually early in the mornings fall and early spring?






weather.com...

a reply to: putnam6

Because when they ran out of fuel and began their dive, the engines shut off. No engines, no power. No power, no transponder, so the data cuts off. Most likely they lost one engine first, and went into the dive, then the second engine flamed out, and that's then they lost all power.

The airspeed drop could have been from just about anything. A brief blip in engine power as fuel was starting to run low, going through a data area that didn't have as many antenna, so it didn't read right. Until the report comes out, there's no way to say with certainty. At a guess, one tank ran dry, and there's was a brief fluctuation in engine power, resulting in a brief speed drop, then another tank started feeding, the engine came back, and the speed went back to what it was set to.

a reply to: putnam6

i know that area somewhat, i used to do a lot of hiking along the appalachian / blue ridge in that area, this time if year it gets hot and sticky, sometimes the air just gets downright hot and wet with lots of fog when humidity gets stuck in the valleys, not sure the current weather conditions. and yes, its no different than other places, it usually burns of by mid day unless its overcast...

Also, just out of curiosity, can we time the recorded altitude loss with the sonic boom? would that shockwave have interfered with any instruments? if it was close enough?

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: ElGoobero

He was out before getting to New York. He was filed to Islip, and over flew it before crashing. He reported at problem at 30,000 feet. He ran out of fuel and the plane went into a spiral, reaching -29000 fpm and crashed into a mountain. He wasn’t shot down.

I'm looking forward to reading about this in more detail as more info is learned...ie. Were there flight recorders? Did the Caretaker of the two children know something was wrong? If so, what did she do? What kind of medical problem did the pilot have? Was there supposed to be 2 pilots, as the TV News aviation expert asserts?

The pilot passed out. Gee, I wonder what could have caused that?