A sonic boom over Washington: Breaking down the Cessna 560 Citation plane crash in Virginia

A pair of U.S. F-16 fighter jets caused a thundering sonic boom over Washington, D.C., as they tried and failed to contact the unresponsive pilot of a private Cessna jet that wandered into restricted airspace Sunday. The Cessna later lost altitude and crashed in a rural area of Virginia.

It’s not yet known why the plane was over Washington, but it’s possible a loss of cabin pressure rendered the pilot and passengers unconscious, the plane’s owner said. The autopilot may have taken control.

The F-16s were scrambled from Joint Base Andrews to intercept the plane. The fighter jets did not cause the Cessna to crash, defense officials said.

The Cessna, identified as a Model 560 Citation, crashed near the George Washington National Forest near rural Montebello, Virginia, at about 3:23 p.m. No survivors were found.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.

What is a sonic boom?

The F-16s were authorized to fly at supersonic speeds to reach the Cessna, the North American Air Defense Command said. Supersonic means the aircraft is flying at Mach 1, faster than the speed of sound. An aircraft moving at supersonic speed makes a noise comparable to thunder.

Sonic booms are shock waves produced by supersonic flight. When you hear a sonic boom, you’re hearing a shock wave:

• Aircraft in flight push air aside, producing pressure waves of compressed and uncompressed air, similar to water waves created by a ship’s bow.
• When an aircraft is flying below the speed of sound, the pressure waves move away from the craft in all directions.
• When the aircraft exceeds the speed of sound – at sea level, about 760 mph – these pressure waves collect in front of the craft and compress to form shock waves.
• As the aircraft accelerates, the shock waves move toward the ground in what’s called a “boom carpet.”
• As shock waves reach the ground, they trigger a change in air pressure and create the sonic boom.