Four Believed Dead In Crashed Plane That F-16s Were Tracking Across DC Area: Officials

Four people died in a plane crash in a mountainous area of Virginia after it was being tracked by military jets traveling at supersonic speeds across the Washington DC area, state and federal officials announced.

U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip Sellinger credited special agents of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations in both Newark and Laredo, Texas, among others, for the plea.
Photo Credit: *HSI.gov*

Cecilia Levine

06/04/2023 4:12 p.m.

A search for the Cessna 560 Citation V concluded at 8 p.m. Montebello, VA, when first responders reached the crash site by foot, Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said.

"State police has suspended its search efforts," she said. "No survivors were located."

F-16s deployed were deployed around 3:50 p.m., by NORAD in an attempt to make contact with the pilot, who was unresponsive, in the afternoon. The jets traveled at supersonic speeds, and created a sonic boom heard across the area, NORAD said in a release.

The jets utilized flares in an attempt to grab the pilot's attention, and intercepted the civilian plane before it crashed near the George Washington National Forest in Virginia.

The plane had departed from Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Elizabethton, TN, and was headed for Long Island MacArthur Airport in Long Island, NY, with four people on board, the FAA said.

State police has suspended its search efforts. No survivors were located.

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