OT: Sonic BOOM heard across the DC Area

[FAH1223]

What a wild afternoon. I was driving when I heard the boom.

Read on Twitter

Fighter jets from Joint Base Andrews scrambled to intercept a private plane over Virginia Sunday afternoon, causing a sonic boom that reverberated across the area, officials said.


The sonic boom was related to a Cessna that crashed later in Southwest Virginia, three people with knowledge of the incident said. Two of them said that F-16 jets from Andrews scrambled and that the Cessna was unresponsive when hailed by authorities.
It is unclear why the Cessna did not respond or why it crashed later. The people with knowledge of the event said the military did not shoot the plane down and there is no indication that the military caused the crash.


The loud, explosive sound from the sonic boom startled residents across the District, Maryland and Virginia around 3:10 p.m. For nearly an hour, it was unclear what had made the noise. On social media, people from Springfield, Va. to Bowie, Md., reported hearing the boom and feeling the accompanying vibrations that shook houses and left people searching for the source of the sound.

Officials from Annapolis and Bowie both said on Twitter that it was caused by a Defense Department flight.


“The loud boom that was heard across the DMV area was caused by an authorized DOD flight. This flight caused a sonic boom. That is all the information available at this time,” according to a statement by the Annapolis Office of Emergency Management.


Officials in Bowie said they “confirmed that the loud boom heard in Bowie was a sonic boom from a plane out of Joint Base Andrews.”


A media representative for Joint Base Andrews could not say what caused the boom but suggested the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) would know. NORAD did not immediately respond to calls and an email.

The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that a Cessna Citation jet crashed near Montebello, Va., around 3:30 p.m. Sunday. Corinne Geller, a spokesperson for the Virginia State Police, said local and state law enforcement officers are still searching for the downed plane and have not yet found a crash site. The search and rescue team cannot fly over the area where officials suspect the aircraft crashed because of low-hanging clouds and fog in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

The aircraft had taken off from Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Elizabethton, Tenn., and was bound for Long Island MacArthur Airport in New York, the FAA said.


Public aviation records said the plane that crashed was registered to Encore Motors of Melbourne, a Florida-based company. Reached by phone, John Rumpel said he was the owner of Encore. Asked whether the plane that crashed was owned by Encore, he said: “To the best of my knowledge.” Rumpel said his “entire family” was on board, including his daughter, a grandchild and her nanny. “We know nothing about the crash,” he said. “We are talking to the FAA now. … I’ve got to keep the line clear.”

The FAA said the National Transportation Safety Board would lead the investigation into the crash. The board did not have any information to share on the incident late Sunday.


Data from flight tracking service Flightradar24 shows a plane matching the Citation’s description and flight path reaching Long Island before turning around. The plane flew directly over Washington before the data ends near Staunton, Va.

[daSwami]

I heard/felt it in Charlottesville.

[pancakes3]

That's pretty wild.

[AFM]

I thought it was Terd doing a cannonball into his backyard pool.

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

I heard/felt it in Charlottesville.

Do you live in Cville Swami? I do

[daSwami]

I heard/felt it in Charlottesville.

Do you live in Cville Swami? I do

I do (Belmont, specifically). We should start a Cville chapter of the Long Suffering.

[AFM]

I heard/felt it in Charlottesville.

Do you live in Cville Swami? I do

I do (Belmont, specifically). We should start a Cville chapter of the Long Suffering.

Just don't meet with tiki torches

[gesa2]

Man I thought someone was doing wordplay with the Dawkins hiring!!

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

I heard/felt it in Charlottesville.

Do you live in Cville Swami? I do

I do (Belmont, specifically). We should start a Cville chapter of the Long Suffering.

That’s totally cool. I thought I was the only Wiz fan in Cville - that definitely includes my family, who all think I’m a masochist for staying loyal to the Bullewizzes.

Let’s grab coffee. I live on Lexington Ave and work at the old Ix building.

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

Do you live in Cville Swami? I do

I do (Belmont, specifically). We should start a Cville chapter of the Long Suffering.

Just don't meet with tiki torches

Brutal