The pilot of the private plane that crashed in Virginia was seen passed out, according to a source

() — The pilot of the private jet that failed to react, causing an interception by supersonic military fighter jets protecting Washington, was seen slumped in his seat, a source familiar with the incident told .

The lone pilot and three passengers were aboard the Cessna Citation that crashed in a heavily wooded area near Waynesboro, Virginia, the Federal Aviation Administration said Monday. There were no survivors, according to authorities.

Another source told that crash investigators are more interested in hypoxia — a shortage of oxygen in the blood — as a reason the pilot and passengers failed to respond to attempts by air traffic controllers and even others. civilian aircraft to contact the downed aircraft.

Hypoxia is an insidious risk of high-altitude flying and could have been caused by a decompression of the plane’s pressurized cabin, according to aviation experts. The flight was headed from eastern Tennessee to Long Island, New York, at 34,000 feet (10,300 meters), an altitude at which pilots have 30 to 60 seconds to don oxygen masks when the pressure drops or they are at risk. to fall unconscious.

When the F-16s caught up with the Cessna 560 Citation V around 3:20 p.m. local time, the jet pilots released flares in an attempt to get the pilot’s attention, a US Continental Region news release reported Sunday. North American Aerospace Defense Command.

“The pilot did not react and the Cessna crashed near the George Washington National Forest in Virginia,” the statement said. “NORAD attempted to contact the pilot until the aircraft crashed.”

The FAA lost contact with the plane just 15 minutes after it took off, according to an agency statement and data from the FlightAware air travel tracking website.

About eight minutes after losing contact, the agency contacted the “Domestic Events Network,” made up of the military, homeland security, homeland security and other law enforcement, according to the FAA statement.

The civilian plane flew from Elizabethton, Tennessee, passed its destination – Long Island’s MacArthur Airport (New York) – and turned around before finally crashing in Virginia on Sunday afternoon, according to NORAD and LiveATC.net.

In addition to the F-16s, air traffic controllers and other civilian pilots frantically tried to make radio contact with the unresponsive crew of the plane as it flew toward Washington at 34,000 feet, LiveATC.net audio revealed. .

The key for investigators, according to a source familiar with the investigation, is the operation of the plane’s autopilot. The plane turned around and continued to fly for more than 300 miles before crashing in rural Virginia.

The first rescuers arrived at the scene of the accident around 8:00 pm this Sunday local time, state police spokeswoman Corinne Geller confirmed. Augusta County Sheriff Donald Smith said Monday the “extremely steep” and rugged terrain made it difficult to access the site, which was located on top of a mountain about 1.5 miles from a highway.

Near the crash site, National Transportation Safety Board investigator-in-charge Adam Gerhardt told reporters the agency’s investigation will ask: “When exactly did the pilot become unresponsive? And Why did the plane follow the flight path it followed?”

The passengers were a woman, her young son and a nanny.

John Rumpel, whose family business owned the crashed plane, told The Washington Post that her daughter Adina Azarian and her 2-year-old granddaughter, Aria Azarian, were among the three passengers and the pilot who died in the crash.

Rumpel also identified the pilot as Jeff Hefner, according to the report.

The private jet was registered to Encore Motors of Melbourne, Inc, a Florida-based company, according to FAA records.

John Rumpel, whose wife Barbara is listed as the company’s president, told Sunday night that they own Encore. The husband confirmed that Barbara Rumpel is safe, but declined to comment further.

John Rumpel told The Washington Post that he received a call from the FAA about 90 minutes after dropping off his daughter, granddaughter and their nanny at a Tennessee airport, where they were headed home to East Hampton, New York.

The FAA asked Rumpel if he knew how to contact the plane, the Post reports.

“My family is gone, my daughter and granddaughter,” Barbara Rumpel wrote in response to a post on her Facebook profile asking others if she was on the plane.

The company that Adina Azarian worked for, Keller Williams, recalled her in a release as “a very devoted mother” and an exceptional colleague.

“Her vibrant personality and unwavering commitment to her clients set her apart in real estate. Adina’s passion for her work and genuine concern for others marked the lives of many, making her an invaluable asset to our Keller Williams Points team. North,” the company’s New York branch stated.

Hefner’s previous employer, the head of a law firm where Hefner worked as a flight captain, said the pilot is survived by his wife and three children.

Hefner was “a highly accomplished and skilled aviator, having flown 25 years as a captain with Southwest Airlines and having over 25,000 flight hours,” attorney Dan Newlin told in a statement. He and he added, “After retiring from Southwest Airlines, Jeff went on to become certified as a captain on numerous private planes.”

The owner of the crashed plane identified Jeff Hefner (pictured) as the pilot in an interview with The Washington Post. (Credit: Courtesy of Dan Newlin)

Investigators search through the remains

The Cessna left a “crater” in the ground and few clues as to why it crashed, authorities said Monday.

Four of the first responders, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described a grisly scene at the crash site.

According to them, there were about four recognizable wreckage from the plane, which hit the ground at a very steep angle. “There was nothing bigger than an arm,” said one of them.

They also found traces of human remains.

NTSB officials will spend the next few days processing evidence at the crash site before the remains are airlifted to a secure facility in Delaware, Gerhardt told reporters Monday.

The plane was not required to carry “black boxes”, devices used to record flight data, but investigators will continue to search for them in the hope that they were installed.

Gerhardt said that, at this early stage of the investigation, “basically everything is on the table” when it comes to determining the cause.

A plane flew over the US capital.

It is not clear if the private plane entered restricted airspace.

The US Capitol complex was placed on “high alert” when the plane flew near the area on Sunday afternoon, the US Capitol Police said in a statement.

Six F-16s took off from three bases, White House National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby reported Monday. Two Joint Base Andrews jets were the first to intercept the private plane, he said.

The F-16 jets were “cleared to travel at supersonic speeds” as they raced to contact the aircraft, according to the North American Aerospace Defense Command Continental Region news release.

The extraordinary speed caused a sonic boom throughout the Washington area, according to authorities. That means the jets were traveling faster than sound, creating shock waves that caused a sudden loud boom, startling some residents on the ground.

President Joe Biden was golfing on the course at Andrews Air Force Base, near Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, when the boom echoed across Washington. The US Secret Service said it did not change its stance to keep President Biden safe after the fighter jets were deployed.

The president was informed of the incident, according to a White House official.

— ‘s Amanda Jackson, Sam Fossum, Philip Wang, Rashard Rose and Aaron Pellish contributed to this report.