Plane That Went Down In VA Registered To FL Businessman

MELBOURNE, FL — The private plane that crashed in the mountains in the George Washington National Forest near Washington, D.C., Sunday, apparently killing everyone on board, was owned by a Florida businessman.

Among the dead are a mother and her 2-year-old child who were headed to their home in East Hampton, Long Island, according to reports. The plane was traveling to Long Island from Tennessee.

A U.S. official told ABC News it appeared that the pilot of the plane, a Cessna 560 Citation V, had "passed out" during the flight. The North American Aerospace Defense Command officials said that officials lost touch with the pilot before the crash.

The plane was registered to Encore Motors of Melbourne, a Florida-based company owned by John and Barbara Rumpel, aviation records show.

According to The Washington Post, neither John nor Barbara Rumpel were on the plane at the time of the crash, but John, the owner of the plane, told the outlet that his "entire family" was on board, including his daughter, a grandchild and her nanny.

The couple have donated to many Republican candidates for federal office over the past few years, according to Federal Election Commission records viewed by The Daily Beast.

The National Transportation Safety Board said on Twitter it was investigating the crash and will arrive at the scene Monday to begin “the process of documenting the scene and examining the aircraft.”

After the pilot became unresponsive, fighter jets scrambled to intercept the jet as it flew over D.C. and Northern Virginia, causing a loud sonic boom to shake the Washington, D.C. shortly after 3 p.m. Sunday.

F-16 jets from Joint Base Andrews were authorized to travel at supersonic speeds to intercept the Cessna after it came into a no-fly zone in the D.C. area, North American Aerospace Defense Command said.

The Cessna had taken off from Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Elizabethton, Tennessee, and was headed for Long Island, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

Data from flight tracking service Flightradar24 shows the plane reaching Long Island before turning around and flying over D.C. and into Virginia, according to The Washington Post.
Four people were on board the Cessna that crashed, CNN reported. A Cessna Citation can carry seven to 12 passengers.

The business jet crashed into mountainous terrain in an area near the George Washington National Forest southwest of Charlottesville, Virginia, North American Aerospace Defense Command said in a news release Sunday evening.

A couple was recording a song on their iPhone when the boom shook their house in Virginia. Another D.C. area resident said she had just started recording a video when she heard the boom.

Fans attending the Washington Nationals game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Nationals Park in Southeast D.C. reported hearing the boom.