Washington DC area 'explosion' sound caused by military jet: Department of Defense
A home camera system in Springfield, Virginia, captured a sonic boom heard across Washington, D.C., northern Virginia and portions of Maryland on June 4 at about 3:15 p.m.area, and areas as far east as the Eastern Shore of Maryland and as far west as Manassas, Virginia, was the sonic boom of two military aircraft scrambling to catch up to a Cessna aircraft with an unresponsive pilot. reported that the boom heard on Sunday was in fact caused by an authorized Department of Defense flight.
In order to catch up with the plane, the jets were authorized to fly at supersonic speeds, and the sonic boom came from the two F-16 jets out of Andrews.The civilian plane was intercepted at 3:20 p.m. and fighter pilots reported the pilot of the Cessna was unresponsive. Virginia State Police said search efforts began immediately by air and on foot with the Augusta County Sheriff's Office and Augusta County Fire-Rescue after a notification at 3:50 p.m. reported a possible plane crash in the Staunton/Blue Ridge Parkway region.
The Associated Press reported that the Cessna was registered to Encore Motors of Melbourne Inc. John Rumpel, who runs the company, told The New York Times his daughter, 2-year-old granddaughter, her nanny and the pilot were on the plane. Fox is told that security officials at the Capitol briefly flipped the alert posture from"Green" to"Yellow." Blue" and"Red" are higher levels of alert, and when the latter is issued, the Capitol is evacuated.
One user posted,"Did anyone feel that explosion in #DC," with another person responding,"All the way out in Prince George’s too," referring to a nearby county in Maryland.Another Twitter user posted,"Did you feel what felt like an explosion! I’m thinking #sonicboom, but from what? I’m just South of Bowie. If you felt it, tell me where you did. Thank you."
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