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    5 questions answered about the unresponsive plane that flew over D.C.

    A wayward Cessna Citation business jet set off military and defense alarms in the national capital area, before the plane crashed in Virginia. But big questions remain.
    by Bill Chappell Jun 05, 2023 5 minutes
    Saint Mary's Wilderness is seen in the distance on June 5, 2023. A Cessna Citation jet crashed over mountainous terrain Sunday afternoon near Montebello, Va. Aviation officials are investigating the fatal crash of the unresponsive plane that flew over the nation's capital, prompting F-16 fighter jets to be scrambled.

    Flares, a "head-butt" maneuver and missiles at the ready: Those are some of the military's options when a wayward aircraft raises alarms in U.S. airspace. All those options were in play on Sunday afternoon, when an unresponsive Cessna jet flew over Washington, D.C., and crashed in Virginia.

    For officials in charge of Washington's sensitive airspace, "their need to react is going to be much more significant than if the same event occurred over the central United States," former Federal Aviation Administration official Michael J. McCormick tells NPR.

    McCormick should know: He helped design and implement the protocols for the airspace around the U.S. capital. He is now an assistant professor and program coordinator at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

    As the plane set off military and defense alarms, it also triggered a series of

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