[theold]

Four people are dead after an unresponsive Cessna Citation airplane flew over Washington, D.C., and crashed in Virginia on Sunday, federal authorities said. The crash, which happened after the military scrambled fighter jets to intercept the plane once it entered restricted airspace around the nation's capitol, left behind "highly fragmented" wreckage in a mountainous area that will take days to gather and sort, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

According to the Pentagon, six F-16 fighter jets were immediately deployed to intercept the plane. Two aircraft from the 113th Fighter Wing, out of Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, were the first to reach the Cessna to begin attempts to contact the pilot. Two F-16 aircraft out of New Jersey and two from South Carolina also responded to the incident.

Flight tracking sites showed the plane suffered a rapid spiraling descent, dropping at one point at a rate of more than 30,000 feet per minute before crashing in the St. Mary's Wilderness.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command said in a statement that the military aircraft was authorized to travel at supersonic speeds, which caused a sonic boom that was heard in Washington and parts of Virginia and Maryland. The aircraft also used flares to try to get the pilot's attention.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/plane-crash...-boom-faa/