Investigators probing Virginia plane crash

Authorities are investigating what caused a private plane to fly hundreds of kilometres off its flight path – intercepted by fighter jets – before it crashed, killing all four people on board


CESSNA 560 CITATION V 

Length: 14.9m

Wingspan: 15.9m

Engines: Two Pratt & Whitney Canada JT15D-5A engines

Cessna similar to crashed plane

Victims included daughter and two-year-old granddaughter of plane’s owner, child’s nanny, and pilot


Jun 4, 13.14 local time:
Plane takes off from Elizabethton, Tennessee, heading to Long Island MacArthur Airport. Communication with plane lost during ascent

14.30: Cessna turns around after reaching Long Island

14.35: Six F-16s from Joint Base Andrews and two other bases scrambled at supersonic speeds to intercept jet, causing sonic boom heard across wide area

Fighter jets see pilot slumped over in cockpit

Around 15.00: Plane flies over heavily restricted airspace in Washington D.C.

15.32: Plane crashes in mountainous region of Virginia after rapid descent.
Officials say plane was not shot down

100km 60 miles
WEST VIRGINIA
NEW YORK 
PENNSYLVANIA
VIRGINIA
N. CAROLINA
New York
MacArthur Airport
ATLANTIC OCEAN
1 2 3 4 5 


Sources: Reuters, Washington Post, Aviation Insider 
Picture: Adrian Pingstone 
© GRAPHIC NEWS