A sonic boom in Washington DC caused by a jet has sparked a whole host of conspiracy theories about its origins, including aliens.
On Sunday (4 June), US fighter jets pursued a light aircraft that illegally entered airspace over Washington DC.
The Cessna Citation light aircraft was unresponsive, leading to the authorities scrambling jets to intercept it. The aircraft proceeded to crash into a mountainous area in southwest Virginia – authorities say the crash was not caused by the fighter jets.
According to CNN, there were four people onboard and police said rescuers found no survivors.
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The fighter jets caused a sonic boom to occur over Washington DC that sparked a level of panic among residents. A sonic boom is a loud explosive noise that is caused by an object travelling faster than the speed of sound.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad) said in a statement: “The Norad aircraft were authorized to travel at supersonic speeds and a sonic boom may have been heard by residents of the region.”
But, for some, it appears the explanation was insufficient as they proceeded to speculate about other conspiracies.
Someone questioned: “Based on the size of the area reporting the violent shake, this is an absolute lie. I want evidence.”
The plane that crashed and sparked the scrambling of fighter jets was registered to a Florida-based company run by John Rumpel.
Rumpel told the New York Times that his daughter, granddaughter, her nanny and the pilot were onboard the aircraft.
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