The errant private Cessna plane that crashed in Virginia yesterday after spooking Pentagon officials and scrambling two F-16 jets was likely flying on autopilot when it performed a mysterious U-turn towards Washington DC after cabin pressure failed and caused everyone on board to lose consciousness.
The jet was carrying Adina Azarian, her two-year-old daughter Aria, their nanny and the pilot, who has not yet been named. It took off at 1.13pm from Elizabethton Airport in Tennessee and was scheduled to land at MacArthur Airport in Islip, on Long Island.
Instead, at 2.45pm, the plane approached MacArthur but then turned around and flew south again, alerting DC officials.
No one on board answered calls from the ground, prompting the need for two F-16 fighter jets from Joint Base Andrews to rush to its side to investigate. They flew with such velocity that a sonic boom was heard over parts of DC and Virginia.
The jet was carrying Adina Azarian, her two-year-old daughter, their nanny and the pilot, who has not yet been named. It took off at 1.13pm from Elizabethton Airport in Tennessee and was scheduled to land at MacArthur Airport in Islip, on Long Island. Instead, it flew north then performed an about-turn and then crashed in Virginia
Adina Azarian and her two-year-old daughter Aria died in the crash. They were traveling with their nanny, who has not yet been named, but who also lost their life
Once in the air, the F-16 pilots reported seeing the Cessna pilot slumped over in the cockpit. Within moments, the Cessna crashed, tumbling a terrifying 2,800ft-a-minute into St Mary’s Wilderness, around 175 miles southwest of Washington DC.
While the tragedy remains under investigation, aviation experts tell DailyMail.com it was likely down to cabin pressure failure which will have caused the pilot – and everyone else – to pass out from a lack of oxygen.
When the plane approached Long Island, rather than landing it diverted back to the south.
Kyle Bailey, a former FAA Safety Team Representative, told DailyMail.com it was likely the result of the pilot programming his route.
‘What appears to have happened as the plane was flying to Islip, it’ was very high.
‘They very well might have been incapacitated [by then]. The pilot has waypoints in the program, it’s similar to a GPS system. So the autopilot might have been flying him to Islip, then the next point could have very well have been the airport they departed from.
‘It could have been towards DC or somewhere down south. It looks like it was affixed in that direction.
‘In that scenario, it’s likely the plane was flying itself.’
Azarian’s two-year-old daughter, seen here with her mom in a recent photo, also died in the crash
Barbara Rumpel announced the deaths of her daughter and granddaughter yesterday
Adina’s adoptive parents are prominent GOP donors, John and Barbara Rumpel, shown with Trump in March 2020
‘It’s most likely a loss of cabin pressure or the pilot became incapacitated. He could have had a heart attack or something like that but judging by the fact there weren’t any emergency calls made from the passengers that we know of, I’m leaning more towards loss of cabin pressure.
‘It typically happens in older planes,’ Kyle Bailey, a former FAA Safety Team Representative, told DailyMail.com.
The Cessna involved was a Cessna Citation V 560 manufactured in 1990. It belonged to the company run by John and Barbara Rumpel, Adina adoptive parents, who confirmed her death and that of her daughter.
A plane manufactured that long ago would be considered old in aviation terms, Bailey said.
‘It wouldn’t have the latest and greatest technology, the planes really evolved around the year 2000 that’s when the technology really went crazy,’ Bailey said.
Such planes have a ‘complicated’ network of pressure relief valves which could have failed. It could have been sudden or gradual.
An interior of a Cessna Citation V560, which is the same type of aircraft that crashed yesterday
The Cessna tumbled at a terrifying 2,800ft per minute once it ran out of fuel
Azarian was described by colleagues as an ‘iconic’ real estate agent working out of the Hamptons and New York City
‘When you’re up there it could be seconds, but if it’s very slow, it could manifest as slowly like making you tired then eventually you just pass out.
‘It’s interesting, it probably happened fairly quickly because the pilot, if he was feeling ill or even slightly ill, he’d likely want to land at a closer airport.’
By the time the F-16s were scrambled, the plane was likely running out of fuel, he said.
‘The timing actually works out perfectly. The crash was about an hour after it flew over Islip and there’s around a 45 minute fuel reserve, so that works perfectly with the theory that it ran out of fuel.
‘It just by chance it ran out of fuel just as it penetrated [the DC] zone.’
At 3.20pm, the F-16 jets were in the air.
At 3.22pm, the Cessna crashed into St Mary’s Wilderness in the Shenandoah Valley.
The impact was so violent that it left a ‘crater’ in the ground.
‘That rate of descent, 2800ft-a-minute, that is everyone’s worst nightmare.
‘But they likely wouldn’t have been conscious so it wouldn’t have been painful for anyone,’ Bailey said.
Two F-16 jets from Joint Base Andrews were approached the jet and tried to get the pilot’s attention but he was unconscious
He added that it was too soon to rule out that the pilot might have become incapacitated alone, and that the others on board simply didn’t know how to raise the alarm.
Azarian, 49, was a successful real estate agent in New York City and the Hamptons.
She ran her own business for years but had recently found success at Keller Williams.
In an internal memo obtained by DailyMail.com, the company described her as ‘iconic’.
‘It is with heavy hearts and deep sorrow that we bring you the tragic news of the untimely passing of our dear colleague, Adina Azarian, and her daughter, Aria. We are devastated by this profound loss and wanted to reach out to inform you and express our deepest condolences.
‘Adina was an exceptional member of our Keller Williams Points North team, as well as the original Team Leader of Keller Williams NYC, known for her dedication, professionalism, and warm spirit.
‘Her vibrant personality and unwavering commitment to her clients set her apart in the real estate industry.
‘Adina’s passion for her work and her genuine care for others touched the lives of many, making her an invaluable asset to our team at Keller Williams Points North.
‘She will be sorely missed.’
Friends told local Hamptons news outlet 27 East how she fought to have Aria and raise her as a single mother.
‘Her daughter was her world — she was such a loving mother and they were so happy. I was friends with her when she was pregnant and she was so excited to have gotten pregnant and to then have this gorgeous little girl.
‘I’m still in such shock. I just saw her in the grocery store, and she was so happy. I can’t believe she is gone.’
