Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, and the US Capitol are seen as daily life continues in Arlington, Virginia, on May 5, 2023. | Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Fighter jets were deployed Sunday when a plane with an unresponsive pilot entered restricted airspace.
On Sunday, two US fighter jets intercepted a plane with a non-responsive pilot flying over the Washington, DC area, causing a sonic boom that startled residents in the city.
The plane — a Cessna Citation, which can hold up to 12 people — left from Elizabethton, Tennessee, and was originally destined for Long Island, New York. At some point in its flight path, the plane turned, and flew down toward DC. Two F-16 fighter jets, which were flying at supersonic speeds, were dispatched from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland to intercept the plane because it flew into restricted airspace, according to a spokesperson for NORAD.
The area over Washington, DC, requires special clearance to enter and is part of a broader restricted section, meant to safeguard infrastructure and government personnel from foreign and terrorist attacks. Planes that enter that airspace without approval and proper communication with authorities can prompt the response that took place on Sunday. The fighter jets’ speed contributed to the sonic boom, which some residents experienced as a loud sudden noise on Sunday afternoon.
The fighter jets ultimately intercepted the plane around 3:20 pm Sunday, and shot flares in order to try to get the pilot’s attention. Throughout this process, the pilot was unresponsive, and it’s not yet clear why this was. The plane wound up crashing in a mountainous area near Montebello, Virginia, at 3:30 pm. Authorities were unable to find survivors after searching the region. According to the New York Times, officials have determined that the plane was not a threat. At the moment, this appears to be an isolated incident and not part of any broader threat or failure by any particular aviation agency.
NORAD Responds to an Unresponsive Aircraft over the National Capital Region pic.twitter.com/EX7r1B1Uum
— 1st AF/America’s AOC (@1stAF) June 4, 2023
Per a NORAD spokesperson, it’s standard protocol to send fighter jets to intercept a plane if it flies into restricted airspace and is not responsive. As the Times reported, the Federal Aviation Administration attempted to contact the pilot of the Cessna prior to deploying the fighter jets, but did not receive a response.
The plane is owned by a Florida-based company called Encore Motors of Melbourne, and held four people, according to John Rumpel, the owner of the business. Rumpel told the Times that his daughter, 2-year-old granddaughter, and her nanny were aboard the flight and headed home after a visit. The FAA has said it will be conducting an investigation into the incident along with the National Transportation Safety Board.
A Cessna Citation crashed into mountainous terrain near Montebello, VA around 3:30 PM ET on June 4. The aircraft took off from Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Elizabethton, TN and was bound for @LIMacArthur in New York. The FAA and @NTSB will investigate.
— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) June 4, 2023
Incidents involving unresponsive pilots are relatively rare
It remains unclear why the pilot was unresponsive in Sunday’s incident and officials are continuing to investigate.
Past cases involving unresponsive pilots could provide some insight into what happened. In 2014, fighter jets were deployed to respond to an unresponsive small plane that drifted over the southern US to the Caribbean. In that instance, the pilots of the fighter jets saw the pilot slumped over, and NORAD suspected he may have experienced hypoxia, a condition when someone loses consciousness in a plane due to lack of oxygen. That same year, another plane also flew over DC after the pilot lost consciousness and fighter jets were deployed as well. And in 1999, fighter jets intercepted a plane carrying pro golfer Payne Stewart after air traffic controllers lost contact and it ultimately crashed in South Dakota.
Such cases are relatively uncommon, the Associated Press reported in 2014, “with probably not much more than a handful of such incidents over the last decade.” “Sometimes the incidents are due to a pilot becoming incapacitated by a heart attack or stroke, but more often the problem is insufficient cabin pressurization that causes the pilot and any passengers to pass out,” the AP reported.
According to a NORAD spokesperson, there are an array of reasons that fighter jets would be deployed to intercept a plane — including in unrestricted airspace. In the case of the plane on Sunday, there were potential concerns about airspace, but NORAD can also be asked by the FAA to send fighter jets if a plane appears to be off its flight path and hasn’t been in proper communication, for example.