Plane that crashed in Virginia lost contact during ascent, feds say

Only minutes into a doomed journey that ended on a remote Virginia mountain, the pilot of a business jet was not responding to air traffic control instructions and the situation was soon reported to a network that includes military, security and law enforcement agencies, according to federal aviation officials.

Despite being out of contact on its ascent Sunday afternoon, the jet that had just taken off from a Tennessee airport continued toward its intended destination on Long Island, then turned to fly back to Virginia where it slammed into a mountain, killing the four people aboard.

Family and friends identified two of the victims as an entrepreneur known in New York real-estate circles and her 2-yearold daughter.

Fighter jet pilots sent to intercept the business jet reported that its pilot appeared slumped over and unresponsive, three U.S. officials said Monday. The officials had been briefed on the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of the military operation. The plane took an erratic flight path — turning around over Long Island to fly directly over the nation's capital — which prompted the military to scramble fighter jets. This caused a sonic boom heard in Washington, Maryland and Virginia.

On Monday, it took investigators several hours to hike into the rural area where the plane crashed about 60 miles southwest of Charlottesville. They expect to be on the scene for at least three to four days.

At a briefing Monday, NTSB investigator Adam Gerhardt said the wreckage is "highly fragmented" and investigators will examine the most delicate evidence at the site, after which the wreckage will be moved, perhaps by helicopter, to Delaware, where it can be further examined. It was not clear if the plane had a flight data recorder. A preliminary report will be released in 10 days.

The Virginia State Police said human remains will be brought to the state medical examiner's office for autopsy and identification. Authorities said the victims included the pilot and three passengers. There were no survivors.

The plane took off from Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Tennessee at 1:13 p.m. Sunday, headed for MacArthur Airport on Long Island, New York. Air Traffic Control lost communication with the airplane during its ascent, according to the NTSB.

Preliminary information indicates the last air traffic control communication attempt with the airplane was at approximately 1:28 p.m., when the plane was at 31,000 feet, the NTSB said. About eight minutes later, the FAA reported the situation to the Domestic Events Network, which includes military, national security, homeland security and other law enforcement agencies.

The plane climbed to 34,000 feet, where it remained for the rest of the flight until 3:23 p.m. when it began to descend and crashed about nine minutes later, according to the NTSB. The plane was flying at 34,000 feet, when it flew over MacArthur Airport at 2:33 p.m., the NTSB said.