Screen capture of verified FAA email
Freelancer Andrew Leyden uploaded a flight track of the N611VG showing the plane flying to New York before making a U-turn and flying directly over Washington, D.C., which is restricted air space. At the end the aircraft descended quickly. It could have been a practice exercise or a security incident. The flight took off from Blountville, TN, and either crashed or landed in Staunton, VA.
The pilot continued to be unresponsive and there are unconfirmed reports of a crash in the Virginia mountains.
According to Reuters, "A U.S. official said the jet fighters did not cause the crash."
Residents in the Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland (DMV) metro areas report hearing a massive boom in the area.
It hasn't yet been reported whether it was a sonic boom, the sound made when a plane breaks the sound barrier, or if it was an explosion.
Regardless, it registered seismic activity about 7 miles south of Washington, D.C.
The Philadelphia Phillies were playing the Washington Nationals at the time, but the sound wasn't related to any fireworks or celebration at the stadium.
Another person suggested a meteorite, but there aren't any signs of one yet. There also isn't any smoke being reported by observers.
"This is how big it was. I am on Capitol Hill, and it was extremely loud. People say, windows rattled in Shaw, etc.," said Hussein Ibish, the senior resident scholar at Gulf States Institute.
But that's exactly what Andrew Leyden, a freelancer in Maryland, swore happened. He reported air aficionados watching air traffic, claiming that the sound was possibly DC Air National Guard and an F-16 from Atlantic City.
"Seems there was Alert Scramble near DC area. and Atlantic City F-16 COSMIC," one individual said.
A Nest camera in a garage in Edgewater, MD, showed whatever it was rattled the attic panel. A Ring doorbell camera recorded the boom as well in Bowie, MD. Another video was posted from Odenton, MD.
A Fairfax, VA, couple was recording a song when they heard the sound, and their house could be heard shaking.
Neighbors all over northern Virginia also reported the sound on their local neighborhood sites.
The Department of Defense confirmed to the Annapolis Office of Emergency Management that "the loud boom that was heard across the DMV area was caused by an authorized DOD flight. This flight caused a sonic boom. That is all the information available at this time."
You can see those videos below or at the link here.
