China News Network, June 6 -- According to comprehensive foreign media reports, on the 5th local time, a light plane was suspected of breaking into the skies over Washington, D.C., and was chased by US fighters for emergency takeoff at high speed. The light plane eventually crashed in Virginia, raising concerns about the identity of the plane's owner and occupants.

According to The Washington Post and The New York Times, the plane was a private business jet registered with a Florida-based company called Encore Motors of Melbourne.

Image source: Screenshot of the New York Times report

The company's operator, 75-year-old John Rumpel, was contacted by phone. He revealed that his daughter, two-year-old granddaughter, nanny and pilot were all on the plane.

John Rupel said he knew little about the crash. If the plane loses pressure, he says, "they'll all fall asleep and never wake up again... I don't think they have found the wreckage yet. It descends at 20000,<> feet per minute, and no one can survive in this situation. ”

The Daily Beast, a U.S. news website, noted that John Rupel's wife, Barbara Rumpel, was registered as president of Encore Motors of Melbourne, but declined to comment.

According to Federal Election Commission records obtained by the website, John Rupel and his wife are prominent Florida business people. Over the past few years, they have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to a number of Republican candidates running for federal office, including former President Donald Trump and his political organizations.

According to public information, Barbara Rupel is also a long-time member of the National Rifle Association (NRA). She has been a member of the NRA's Women's Leadership Committee since 2002.

On the 4th local time, a Cessna light aircraft was suspected of breaking into the sky over Washington, and the US F-16 jet fighter took off urgently to pursue at high speed and caused a sonic boom over the US capital. During this time, the US military tried to establish contact with the pilots on the Cessna plane.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) statement, the Cessna plane took off from Elizabethton, Tennessee, on the 4th and was scheduled to fly to Long Island, New York. But inexplicably, the plane turned around over Long Island and plummeted over Washington, D.C. The plane later crashed in the mountains of southwestern Virginia.

It is not immediately clear why the Cessna did not respond to the authorities' controls or the cause of the crash.