A flight map showing the precise route of the “ghost plane” that mysteriously crashed in Virginia in early June, killing all on board, was released Wednesday by federal investigators.
Authorities also revealed that the cockpit voice recorder has still not been found.
The map, provided by the National Transportation Safety Board, showed the path the private Cessna plane took before falling from the sky on June 4 over mountainous terrain near Montebello, Virginia.
The cause of the crash remains unclear to investigators, but the new report provides some details about what happened aboard the small plane in the hours before the crash.
A few minutes after takeoff, air traffic control received the last known transmission from the aircraft. It then flew — some have suggested on autopilot — to New York before turning and flying over Washington, DC. That caused fighter jets to track the plane before it crashed in Virginia killing the four occupants.
A new detailed flight map of the Cessna plane that crashed in Virginia earlier this month
Adina Azarian (left), her two-year-old daughter (center) and the child’s nanny Evadnie Smith (right) were killed Sunday when a plane they were on crashed in rural Virginia
The plane’s pilot, Jeff Hefner, contacted air traffic controllers several times after the flight departed from Tennessee’s Elizabethton Municipal Airport at about 1:15 p.m. on June 4.
The plane’s pilot, Jeff Hefner, contacted air traffic controllers several times after the flight departed from Tennessee’s Elizabethton Municipal Airport at about 1:15 p.m. on June 4.
The plane was carrying realtor Adina Azarian, her 2-year-old daughter Aria, and the child’s live-in nanny, Evadnie Smith. It was en route to New York’s Long Island MacArthur Airport.
The pilot contacted controllers at least three times as the small plane gained altitude. Each time, the air traffic controllers gave the aircraft permission to climb further.
At around 1:30 p.m., the controller told the pilot to stop climbing at 33,000 feet. The pilot did not respond, but stopped climbing at 34,000 feet.
However, no radio transmissions were received from the pilot after that, despite attempts by air traffic controllers to make contact.
The plane continued on its planned route until it suddenly made a nearly 180-degree turn over the Long Island airport at about 2:30 p.m., according to the chart.
The Pentagon previously reported that six F-16 fighter jets deployed from Joint Base Andrews after the plane deflected into the limited space around the capitol as it returned to Virginia.
“The pilot failed to respond to several radio transmissions, intercept maneuvers and flares,” the report said.
Despite some sources saying the fighter jets witnessed the pilot pass out. However, researchers did not mention that detail in the recent report.
The report said the plane barely deviated in altitude until just before 3:30 p.m., when the plane suddenly “entered a rapidly declining straight spiral descent into the terrain.”
Minutes later, the plane crashed into the mountainous area.
At around 3:20 p.m., when the plane was seen flying at 10,000 meters towards the capital, the army received permission to send F-16 fighter jets to make contact with the plane.
Residents of three states reported hearing a sonic boom as the jets traveled at supersonic speeds to reach the jet.
Adina Azarian and her two-year-old daughter were killed in the plane crash, as investigators said it was likely on autopilot as it ran out of fuel
John Rumpel (left) owned the Cessna plane that crashed and adopted Azarian with his wife Barbara (right) when she was 40. Rumpel has said it was Hefner’s responsibility to maintain the plane
Investigators say they believe, based on the evidence and an assessment of the crash site, that the plane crashed at “high speed” and a “near vertical descent.”
The passengers are said to have returned to the Hamptons after visiting Azarian’s parents, Trump donors John and Barbara Rumpel, in North Carolina.
“My family is gone, my daughter and granddaughter,” Barbara Rumpel wrote about the victims shortly after the disaster.
“It was descending at 20,000 feet per minute, and no one could survive a crash of that speed,” John Rumpel later told the media.
Investigators say they believe, based on the evidence and an assessment of the crash site, that the plane crashed at “high speed” and a “near vertical descent.”
“The cockpit was destroyed by the impact,” the report said, adding that fragments of both wings and both engines of the plane were found scattered nearby.
The cockpit voice recording has still not been recovered, despite recent maintenance on the aircraft, which records showed one was installed as of May 2023.
A full report from the crash site is not expected to be completed for another year.