Fighter Jet Pilots Reveal Shocking Details About Fatal Cessna Crash That Left Four Dead

The pilot was found "slumped over" by U.S. fighter pilots who intercepted the plane. National Guard F-16 pilots confirmed that the civilian pilot was unresponsive after trying to get the pilot's attention for 30 minutes before the plane went down around 3 p.m. near the sparsely populated town of Montebello, Virginia, military officials said.

The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that the pilot did not respond to air traffic control instructions around 1:28 p.m. EDT. Subsequently, the NORAD pilots visually inspected the Cessna, which was still airborne, and confirmed that the pilot was unresponsive. NORAD pilots described the Cessna pilot as being slumped over.

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Air traffic control audio from the half-hour before the Cessna Citation crashed captured voices that identified as military pilots trying to communicate with the private plane pilot. "If you hear this transmission, contact us," said one pilot who identified herself as with the Air National Guard. Several minutes passed without a response when a military pilot said, "You have been intercepted. Contact me."

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To intercept the Cessna aircraft, officials said the U.S. deployed six F-16 jets, including two from Washington, D.C., two out of New Jersey, and an additional two out of South Carolina. A supersonic boom heard across the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area was from a D.C. National Guard F-16 jet trying to catch up with the Cessna.

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June 07, 2023

While authorities have not confirmed the identities of those aboard the plane or what caused the crash, the plane's owner, John Rumpel, told The New York Times and Newsday that his daughter, Adina Azarian, and 2-year-old granddaughter Aria, were aboard the flight.

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Azarian, 49, was well-known in real estate circles both in New York City and Long Island, described by friends and relatives as a competitive entrepreneur who started her brokerage and was raising her daughter as a single parent. Rumpel, a pilot who runs the Florida-based company Encore Motors of Melbourne Inc., to which the crashed plane was reportedly registered, said his family was returning home in East Hampton, on Long Island, after visiting his house in North Carolina.

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National Transportation Safety Board investigator Adam Gerhardt said the wreckage is "highly fragmented." He said the plane is not required to have a flight recorder but may have other avionics equipment with data they can examine. Investigators are now seeking answers about how long the pilot could have been unresponsive and what caused the wayward aircraft to turn around over Long Island and head back toward Tennessee.