Barbara Rumpel with her daughter Adina Azarian, and her 2-year-old granddaughter (Facebook)
A prominent Republican donor family experienced an unimaginable tragedy as their private jet on the way to New York crashed into restricted airspace over Washington, D.C., on Sunday. Sadly, this devastating incident claimed the lives of their 49-year-old daughter, their two-year-old granddaughter, the nanny, and the pilot.
The Gateway Pundit reported that an explosion-like sound shocked the residents in Washington DC, echoing across nearby areas in Maryland and Virginia.
Four F-16 fighter fighters, two from the Andrews Air Force in Washington, DC, and two from Atlantic City, New Jersey, intercepted a nonresponsive aircraft before it crashed in southern Virginia.
According to an earlier report by ABC News, a U.S. official stated that the pilot of the Cessna appeared to have “passed out” while at the controls. Reuters reported that the plane appeared to be on autopilot at the time.
The first images of the Cessna Citation aircraft that crashed into a Virginia Mountainside have been released by an NBC Washington reporter.
#BREAKING Images you’ll only see on @nbcwashington, a Cessna Citation business jet crashed into a Virginia mountain side, fighter jets scrambled from Joint Base Andrews could only watch as the incapacitated pilot descended from 30K feet #BreakingNews @TomLynch_ @charlienbc pic.twitter.com/A9XszAt66N
— ʙʀᴀᴅ ꜰʀᴇɪᴛᴀꜱ (@Chopper4Brad) June 5, 2023
The aircraft that crashed was registered under FAA records as N611VG, and the Cessna 560 Citation V involved in the crash is owned by Encore Motors of Melbourne.
Barbara Rumpel is the president of Encore Motors and also NRA Women’s Leadership Forum (WLF) Executive Committee member and Trustee of the NRA Foundation and NRA Whittington Center.
The Rumpels have donated $250,000 to a PAC backing former president Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign.
Barbara Rumpel expressed her profound grief in a heartfelt Facebook comment: “My family is gone, my daughter and my granddaughter.”
John Rumpel, the husband of Barbara Rumpel, confirmed to Washington Post that his “entire family” was on board the ill-fated Cessna Citation, including his daughter, grandchild, and her nanny.
“Reached by phone, John Rumpel said he was the owner of Encore. Asked whether the plane that crashed was owned by Encore, he said: “To the best of my knowledge.” Rumpel said his “entire family” was on board, including his daughter, a grandchild and her nanny. “We know nothing about the crash,” he said. “We are talking to the FAA now. … I’ve got to keep the line clear,” the outlet reported.
According to The Daily Mail, Rumpel’s daughter, Adina Azarian, and her 2-year-old daughter were killed in the crash. The family had previously lost Adina’s sister, Victoria, in a scuba diving accident in 1994.
Daily Mail reported:
John Rumpel told the New York Times that his family members’ likely last moments were like ‘they all just would have gone to sleep and never woke up.’
State police confirmed the wreckage of the plane was found in the Staunton/Blue Ridge Parkway area, in a rural part of the Shenandoah Valley, and that no survivors were found.
John Rumpel, a pilot, told the newspaper he didn’t have much information from authorities but hoped his family didn’t suffer and suggested the plane could’ve lost pressurization.
‘I don’t think they’ve found the wreckage yet,’ Rumpel told the newspaper. ‘It descended at 20,000 feet a minute, and nobody could survive a crash from that speed.’
Read more here.
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