Tipsheet

Here’s Who Died in the Plane Crash That’s Connected to F-16 Incident Over DC

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  June 04, 2023 11:25 PM

There was a sonic boom over the DC area. Some felt its impact more than others, but it sounded like a bomb had gone off, especially if you lived near the capital. It wasn’t a bomb or a terrorist incident, thank God. It wasn’t Superman, but two F-16s authorized to travel at supersonic speeds over the city to intercept a Cessna aircraft flying an odd pattern and unresponsive when contacted by authorities. The aircraft later crashed in Virginia (via NBC 4 Washington):


 A loud boom heard all over the D.C. area that even shook residences on Sunday was caused by a military plane, officials said. 

"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," the City of Annapolis Office of Emergency Management said in a tweet. 

At around 3:09 p.m., 911 centers began getting inundated by reports of a loud explosion. News4 also received multiple calls and emails from concerned viewers. 

[…] 

D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management said the department was “aware of reports from communities throughout the National Capital Region of a loud ‘boom’ this afternoon. There is no threat at this time.” 

Fox News’ Chad Pergram did what he does best regarding the incident: 

And we’ve learned who was in the aircraft when it crashed (via WaPo):


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A wayward and unresponsive business plane that flew over the nation’s capital Sunday afternoon caused the military to scramble a fighter jet before the plane crashed in Virginia, officials said. The fighter jet caused a loud sonic boom that was heard across the capital region. 

The Federal Aviation Administration says the Cessna Citation took off from Elizabethtown, Tennessee, on Sunday and was headed for Long Island’s MacArthur Airport. Inexplicably, the plane turned around over New York’s Long Island and flew a straight path down over D.C. before it crashed over mountainous terrain near Montebello, Virginia, around 3:30 p.m. 

It was not immediately clear why the plane was nonresponsive, why it crashed or how many people were on board. 

[…] 

The plane that crashed was registered to Encore Motors of Melbourne Inc. John Rumpel, who runs the company, told The New York Times that his daughter, 2-year-old granddaughter, her nanny and the pilot were aboard the plane. They were returning to their home in East Hampton, on Long Island, after visiting his house in North Carolina, he said. A woman who identified herself as Barbara Rumpel, who is listed as the president of the company in Melbourne, Florida, said she had no comment Sunday when reached by The Associated Press.

And in that piece, Mr. Rumpel spoke about the possibility of the plane losing pressurization: 

Mr. Rumpel, who is also a pilot, said that he had little information about the circumstances of the crash, but hoped they had not suffered. His voice breaking, he said that if the plane lost pressurization, “they all just would have gone to sleep and never woke up.” 

The Daily Beast cited the family’s past political history, which won’t be attacked in the mainstream press, or at least we hope not, but lefty social media accounts could easily become heinous creatures, with the typical ‘they deserved to die’ posts now that they know about the Rumpels being NRA and Trump supporters: 

Both Barbara and her husband, prominent business people in Florida, have donated to a medley of Republican candidates for federal office over the past few years, including hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations to former President Donald Trump and his political organization, according to Federal Election Commission records viewed by The Daily Beast. 

The couple donated a combined $250,000 to the Trump Victory PAC in 2020 alone. Then, just two years later, Barbara made a number of donations to controversial candidates, including $2,900 to Georgia Senate hopeful Herschel Walker and $500 to Florida congressional candidate Laura Loomer, a far-right influencer known for making anti-Muslim statements. 

Barbara also has direct ties to the Trump Administration. She was listed as a co-chair for a firearm-rights campaign organization supporting the former president’s 2016 run, called the “Second Amendment Coalition for Trump-Pence.” 

A longtime National Rifle Committee member, Barbara has also been on the NRA’s Women’s Leadership Council since 2002 and spent more than six years as an executive committee member, according to her LinkedIn profile. 

The couple committed their commercial real estate portfolio to a trust benefitting the organization, according to a statement they published on the NRA website. 

Given the family's political leanings, we’ll see if this turns ugly. Regardless, this is a tragic incident; it could be months before we have a final report from the NTSB. In the meantime, a vicious primary fight is emerging between the Trump and DeSantis camps and Joe Biden falling all over the place while sending this nation into an economic abyss.