U.S. jets scramble in pursuit of passenger plane
U.S. fighter jets were scrambled Sunday afternoon, creating a sonic boom, after a Cessna Citation passenger plane violated airspace around Washington, D.C., Reuters reported.
The plane, which can carry seven to 12 passengers, crashed into a mountainous area in southwestern Virginia around 3 p.m., WHSV reported. As of 17:20, the plane has not yet been found.
According to a US official, the crash was not caused by fighter jets.
Officials said the Cessna ignored radio requests and flew on a "strange flight path," Lucas Tomlinson of Fox News Channel reported.
Reports of a "loud explosion" flooded Twitter shortly before the crash. Various authorities, including the Annapolis Office of Emergency Management and the District of Columbia Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, tweeted to reassure citizens that there was no current threat. The Cessna took off from Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Tennessee and headed for Long Island MacArthur Airport in New York, WHSV reported;
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