Flyover At Arlington National Cemetery To Produce 'Smoke And Noise'

ARLINGTON, VA — The U.S. Air Force will be performing low-level aerial demonstrations over Arlington National Cemetery at about 9 a.m. Wednesday morning.

The aerial demonstrations “will produce smoke and noise,” Arlington National Cemetery said in a tweet, alerting the public, so they are not alarmed.

The cemetery did not say why the flyover was happening Wednesday morning. Flyovers and cannon fire explosions often happen for funerals at the cemetery.

In April 2021, two F-22 Raptors flew over downtown D.C. shortly after 11 a.m. to celebrate the opening of the National World War I Memorial. Residents were not alerted beforehand by the Department of Defense about the flyover.

The flyover caught many off guard, shaking residents' windows and causing car alarms to start blaring.

Earlier this year, the Capitol Police, Park Police and Secret Service were not given advance notice of a Nationals Park military flyover that led to an emergency evacuation of the U.S. Capitol complex. Employees were told to evacuate buildings quickly and get blocks away for their safety on April 20 after police identified an aircraft that they said posed "a probable threat."

But the airplane was actually carrying members of the U.S. Army Golden Knights, who then parachuted into Nationals Park for a pregame demonstration.