A thunderous explosion heard across the Washington Metropolitan area on Sunday afternoon was a sonic boom from a Department of Defense aircraft, according to officials.
Fighter jets were scrambled Sunday afternoon to investigate a private plane that was flying off-course over the Washington, D.C., area until the Cessna crashed in southwest Virginia.Pilots from the Capital Guardians, a unit of the 113th Wing of the D.C. National Guard, determined that the pilot was incapacitated, a senior government official said. The fighters shadowed the Cessna until it crashed, the official said.No survivors had been found by Sunday evening, and the search was suspended.
President Joe Biden was briefed, a White House official said. A source familiar told NBC News that the Secret Service's Airspace Division monitored the aircraft's movements and that there was no impact on Secret Service protectees. The aircraft took off from Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Elizabethton, Tennessee, bound for New York’s Long Island MacArthur Airport, the FAA said.
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