Small plane crashes after flying over D.C.

Rescuers found the wreckage of the Cessna Citation in rural Virginia after it crashed Sunday. No one on board survived. The Federal Aviation Administration said the pilot was unresponsive as the plane flew without permission over the nation’s capital. The military scrambled a fighter jet as a precaution, and the jet caused a sonic boom as it flew over the city. John Rumpel, whose company owned the wrecked aircraft, told news outlets that his daughter, granddaughter, a nanny, and the pilot were onboard.

What caused the crash? The plane was traveling from Elizabethton, Tenn., to Long Island, N.Y., but it veered off course over Long Island and headed to the Washington area. Investigators don’t know why it changed course or why the pilot was unresponsive. Rumpel suggested the plane could have lost cabin pressure, leaving those on board unconscious.