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2023 Virginia plane crash
	A Cessna 560 Citation V similar to the one involved in the accident
Accident
Date	June 4, 2023
Summary	Crashed into the ground, under investigation
Site	Mine Bank Mountain, George Washington National Forest, Virginia, United States ; 37°55′18″N 79°06′13″W / 37.92157°N 79.10367°W
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Cessna 560 Citation V
Operator	Privately owned
Registration	N611VG
Flight origin	Elizabethton Municipal Airport
Stopover	Long Island MacArthur Airport
Passengers	3
Crew	1
Fatalities	4
Survivors	0

On June 4, 2023, a privately operated Cessna 560 Citation V carrying three passengers and a pilot crashed at approximately 3:23 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) in the George Washington National Forest, Virginia, killing the occupants, after the crew had been found unresponsive.^[1]^: 2^{[NTSB 1]} The plane had previously entered the no-fly zone over Washington, D.C., and was intercepted by F-16 fighter jets before it crashed. A preliminary report was released by the National Transportation Safety Board on June 21, 2023, and the investigation into the crash is ongoing as of August 2023.

Accident

The plane involved in the accident was a Cessna 560 Citation V, registered N611VG to Encore Motors of Melbourne, a Florida-based company under the ownership of John and Barbara Rumpel.^[2]^[1] It departed from Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Elizabethton, Tennessee, at approximately 1:15 p.m. EDT, bound for Long Island MacArthur Airport (ICAO: KISP) in New York. According to an NTSB spokesman, fifteen minutes after takeoff, air traffic control instructed the pilot to maintain altitude at 31,000 feet (9,449 m), but he did not respond. The plane continued climbing until reaching a cruising altitude of 34,000 feet (10,363 m) and proceeded to fly on the correct bearing to land at MacArthur Airport.^[2]

After reaching Long Island, the plane followed the correct flight path to line up for the runway, but failed to initiate its descent on approach, maintaining its altitude and continuing past the airport on the same heading as the runway alignment. The flight continued on until it entered the restricted airspace over Washington, D.C.^[2] The U.S. Capitol complex was placed on "elevated alert" when the plane flew over the restricted airspace as reported by the U.S. Capitol Police.^[3] NORAD deployed six F-16 fighter jets to intercept the plane.

Interception and crash

The Cessna was intercepted at approximately 3:20 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Two F-16 jets from the 113th Wing at Joint Base Andrews engaged in supersonic flight over the capital region,^[4]^[5] were the first to reach the Cessna, and attempted to contact the pilot.^[6] They used flares to draw the Cessna pilot's attention, although the plane's pilot was unresponsive. The flight continued on, flying past Washington, D.C., and entering the state of Virginia, until crashing at approximately 3:30 p.m. EDT.^[7] Tracking data from FlightAware indicated that the plane flew over Washington, D.C., at an altitude of 34,000 feet (10,363 m).^[8]

The plane crashed near Montebello, Virginia, on the north face of Mine Bank Mountain at an elevation of 2,760 feet (840 m), in the vicinity of the Mine Bank Creek Trail in the George Washington National Forest.^[9] Vegetation damage and crater at the site of the crash indicated fast, near-vertical descent.^[1]

Passengers and crew

The FAA confirmed four people died as a result of the crash.^[1] According to initial reports from The New York Times, John Rumpel's daughter, granddaughter, her nanny, as well as the pilot were on board the plane during the crash.^[2] By June 10 the identities of three of those onboard were known: pilot Jeff Hefner, passengers Adina Azarian and Aria Azarian (age 2).^[10]

In an interview, John Rumpel, who was not aboard at the time of the accident, said that the Cessna "descended at 20,000 feet a minute".^[2]

Aftermath and investigation

First responders who were notified of the crash at 3:50 p.m. EDT reported that no survivors were found in the wreckage. CNN reported that the plane left a "crater", leading responders to believe that it impacted the ground at a very steep angle.^[3] A preliminary report was released by the National Transportation Safety Board on June 21, 2023, and the investigation into the crash is ongoing as of August 2023.^[11]^[12]

Cause

The owner of the aircraft has speculated that the crash may have been caused by hypoxia resulting from the loss of cabin pressure, rendering the passengers and the pilot unconscious.^[13] U.S. officials said that the intercept pilots had seen the Cessna's pilot "passed out" at the controls.^[4] The NTSB's preliminary report says that the voice recorder has not been located.^[1]^: 3^{[NTSB 2]} The jet was intercepted by fighter aircraft at about 3:20 p.m. EDT.^[1]^: 2^{[NTSB 1]} Two minutes later it went into a right spiral into the terrain.^[1]

Notes

^ ^a ^b Page 2: "According to a North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) statement, about 1520 the airplane was intercepted by fighter aircraft."
^ Page 3: "According to recent maintenance inspection records, the airplane as of May 2023 was equipped with a cockpit voice recorder (CVR), however, at the time of this publication, a CVR had not been located. The airplane was not equipped with a flight data recorder, nor was it required to be."