A major donor to former President Donald Trump identified himself as the small aircraft owner that entered a no-fly zone over Washington, D.C., on Sunday and later crashed in southwest Virginia, leaving one crew member and three passengers dead.
Residents throughout the Washington, D.C., area reportedly heard a loud sonic boom after F-16 jets from Joint Base Andrews scrambled to respond to a Cessna Citation jet owned by Florida businessman and prominent “MAGA” donor John Rumpel.
Rumpel, 75, owner of Encore Motors of Melbourne Inc., told The Washington Post that his “entire family,” including his daughter, Adina Azarian, his two-year-old grandchild, and her nanny, were on board the jet when it crashed into a sparsely populated area near Montebello, Virginia.
“We know nothing about the crash,” he said. “We are talking to the FAA now — I’ve got to keep the line clear.”
“I don’t think they’ve found the wreckage yet,” Rumpel told the New York Times. “It descended at 20,000 feet a minute, and nobody could survive a crash from that speed.”
Virginia state police told local media that authorities found no survivors at the crash site.
US aviation officials on Monday were investigating the fatal crash of an “unresponsive” private jet. Authorities reportedly attempted to contact its pilot after the aircraft approached areas around the nation’s capital, including the White House.
North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) officials said it was not immediately known why the pilot did not respond to attention flares or why the plane later crashed.
“During this event, the NORAD aircraft also used flares — which may have been visible to the public — in an attempt to draw attention from the pilot,” the statement said. “Flares are employed with highest regard for safety of the intercepted aircraft and people on the ground. Flares burn out quickly and completely and there is no danger to the people on the ground when dispensed.”
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the aircraft departed from Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Elizabethton, Tennessee, and was bound for Long Island MacArthur Airport in New York, but eventually crashed about 150 miles southwest of D.C., in the Shenandoah Valley.
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Rumpel reportedly said his family was returning to their home in East Hampton on Long Island after visiting his house in North Carolina, departing from an airport in East Tennessee.
Rumpel had been a staunch Trump supporter and has reportedly donated approximately $250,000 to the former president’s campaign in 2020.
Rumpel’s wife, Barabara, served on Trump’s 2nd Amendment Coalition, representing the NRA women’s leadership forum.
The National Transportation Safety Board will reportedly handle the investigation into the crash and is expected to release a preliminary report in approximately three weeks.
