F-16 Fighter Jets Chase Cessna Aircraft Intruders Washington, Residents of the US Capital Panic

F-16 Fighter Jets Chase Cessna Aircraft Intruders Washington, Residents of the US Capital Panic

Washington - An F-16 fighter jet emitted a sonic boom as it chased a Cessna plane that crossed Washington, DC, airspace on Sunday. The sonic boom has triggered panic in the citizens of the United States (US) Capital.

The U.S. Department of Defense said explosions were heard as F-16 fighter jets scrambled from Joint Base Andrews, in Maryland, to catch a Cessna private jet that was unresponsive and took off shortly after 3 p.m. Many residents in the capital city and surrounding communities were panicked and confused. The private Cessna plane flew over the US Capital before crashing in southwest Virginia.

The Washington Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency said sonic booms were heard throughout the National Capital Territory, but there was no immediate threat. The officials also denied that a US fighter jet caused the Cessna flight to crash.

The Pentagon has so far declined to comment. The sonic boom, which occurred after the plane breached the sound barrier at 767 mph, could be heard across the capital, and cities in Maryland and northern Virginia, with many people taking to Twitter to question the sound of the explosion shaking their homes. "It was loud enough to shake my coffee table," wrote capital resident Matt Cox after the explosion. "Thank God there's no baby in the house." The uproar over the sonic boom eventually caused the hashtag #explosion to trend on Twitter on Sunday afternoon as residents shared their experiences.

The Annapolis Office of Emergency Management eventually sent out a notice informing residents of the cause of the sound. "The loud explosion heard throughout the DMV area was caused by a DOD [Department of Defense] authorized flight," the office wrote via its Twitter account, @AnnapolisOEM. "This flight causes a sonic boom." The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has yet to confirm details about the Cessna plane that crashed.

A Cessna aircraft can usually carry between seven and 12 passengers. According to CNN, four people were aboard the Cessna when it crashed near the George Washington National Forest in Virginia. The private plane departed from Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Elizabethton, Tennessee, bound for New York's Long Island MacArthur Airport. It had reached the New York area before making a nearly 180-degree turn and flying toward Virginia, according to flight tracking website Flight Aware.