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Ellie Abraham
Jun 05, 2023
Sonic boom caused by fighter jets heard in Virginia
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A sonic boom in Washington DC caused by a jet has sparked a whole host of conspiracy theories about its origins, including aliens.
On Sunday (4 June), US fighter jets pursued a light aircraft that illegally entered airspace over Washington DC.
The Cessna Citation light aircraft was unresponsive, leading to the authorities scrambling jets to intercept it. The aircraft proceeded to crash into a mountainous area in southwest Virginia – authorities say the crash was not caused by the fighter jets.
According to CNN, there were four people onboard and police said rescuers found no survivors.
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The fighter jets caused a sonic boom to occur over Washington DC that sparked a level of panic among residents. A sonic boom is a loud explosive noise that is caused by an object travelling faster than the speed of sound.
\u201c\ud83d\udea8#WATCH: As a dc resident captured the Sonic boom on a home security camera \n\n\ud83d\udccc#Washington | #DC \n\nEarlier this evening, incredible video was captured on a home security camera showing a loud sonic boom which was caused by fighter jets that quickly took off to intercept an\u2026\u201d— R A W S A L E R T S (@R A W S A L E R T S) 1685922641
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad) said in a statement: “The Norad aircraft were authorized to travel at supersonic speeds and a sonic boom may have been heard by residents of the region.”
But, for some, it appears the explanation was insufficient as they proceeded to speculate about other conspiracies.
\u201c@alanhenney Don't wanna sound like a conspiracy theorist. But I don't think that sonic boom was part of an "exercise." It would be really odd that both of these incidents just happened to coincide with one another.\u201d— Alan Henney (@Alan Henney) 1685909597
\u201c@PenguinSix 1 Mile of sonic boom travel per 1k feet of altitude. Was this guy flying the alien ship from Independence Day?\u201d— Andrew Leyden (@Andrew Leyden) 1685907169
\u201cThis plane crash in Virginia is totally bizarre.\n\n- they flew all the way to their destination and pulled a 180 without even descending https://t.co/QXyM7C4dQv\n\n- sonic boom in DC by pursuing f-16s\n\n- the jet\u2019s owners are megadonors to the NRA\u201d— matt schaar \ud83e\udd85\ud83c\udf3b (@matt schaar \ud83e\udd85\ud83c\udf3b) 1685923038
Someone questioned: “Based on the size of the area reporting the violent shake, this is an absolute lie. I want evidence.”
\u201c@PenguinSix Based on the size of the area reporting the violent shake, this is an absolute lie. I want evidence.\u201d— Andrew Leyden (@Andrew Leyden) 1685907169
\u201c@steelpond @PenguinSix This is why it\u2019s so hard to believe\u2026. I saw this reported first \u201cplanned drills\u201d then airplane crash. Can\u2019t imagine the waiting game if we are ever attacked?!!!\u201d— Andrew Leyden (@Andrew Leyden) 1685907169
\u201c@SundaeDivine Of course they\u2019re going to tell you it was a sonic boom\u2026they don\u2019t want panic.\n\nDefinitely a meteor. Or aliens. Or aliens with a meteor.\u201d— \ud835\udd4a\ud835\udd66\ud835\udd5f\ud835\udd55\ud835\udd52\ud835\udd56_\ud835\udd3b\ud835\udd5a\ud835\udd67\ud835\udd5a\ud835\udd5f\ud835\udd56 (@\ud835\udd4a\ud835\udd66\ud835\udd5f\ud835\udd55\ud835\udd52\ud835\udd56_\ud835\udd3b\ud835\udd5a\ud835\udd67\ud835\udd5a\ud835\udd5f\ud835\udd56) 1685908046
The plane that crashed and sparked the scrambling of fighter jets was registered to a Florida-based company run by John Rumpel.
Rumpel told the New York Times that his daughter, granddaughter, her nanny and the pilot were onboard the aircraft.
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