John Rumpel, a frequent donor to former President Donald Trump, the Republican Party, the National Rifle Association, and other Republican causes, disclosed that he lost several family members when a private aircraft crashed Sunday after flying through restricted airspace.
On Sunday afternoon, Washington, DC residents heard a sonic boom as military aircraft were scrambled after an unresponsive private plane entered restricted airspace and subsequently crashed. All four passengers on the aircraft have perished.
“The deafening boom rang out when two F-16 fighter jets were scrambled from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland to investigate the aircraft that was not responding to radio transmissions shortly after 3 p.m., according to the Department of Defense The F-16s were deployed after the private Cessna flew into restricted airspace over the capital before it crashed in southwest Virginia. The fighter jets saw that the pilot of the plane appeared to have passed out, a US official told ABC News,” the New York Post reported.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Rumpel stated that his “entire family” was aboard the crashed Cessna.
According to federal officials, the Cessna was not shot down.
“We know nothing about the crash,” Rumpel told the Post. “We are talking to the FAA now … I’ve got to keep the line clear.”
He told the Times that if the plane’s cabin pressure had been lost, “they would have all fallen asleep and never woken up.”
“I don’t think they’ve found the wreckage yet,” Rumpel told the Times. “It descended at 20,000 feet a minute, and nobody could survive a crash from that speed.”
The plane that went down in DC yesterday belonged to a Trump donor named John Rumpel. His entire family was on board.
Absolutely tragic. Please pray for John Rumpel. 🙏🏼https://t.co/w0AZsSiA1K
— Alex Bruesewitz 🇺🇸 (@alexbruesewitz) June 5, 2023
Barbara & John Rumpel are active conservatives. She is an NRA leader. Five years ago, daughter died from a scuba accident. The plane had reached destination at Long Island when the plane turned around . Appeared to be on auto pilot? Too many accidents?https://t.co/Cugvq0jx0C
— Patricia P Tursi (@PatriciaTursi) June 5, 2023
“Data from flight tracking service Flightradar24 shows a plane matching the Citation’s description and flight path reaching Long Island before turning around,” the Post reported. “The plane flew directly over Washington before the data ends near Staunton, Va.”
The New York Post reported: “Rescuers were able to reach the site of the plane crash hours later on foot in a rural part of Shenandoah Valley, and no survivors were found, according to police. The aircraft departed Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Elizabethton, Tennessee, heading for Long Island MacArthur Airport in New York, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. It had reached the New York area before making a nearly 180-degree turn and flying toward Virginia, according to the flight-tracking website Flight Aware.”
Barbara Weimer Rumpel, the wife of Rumpel, uploaded photos of their daughter and granddaughter to Facebook.
“My family is gone, my daughter and granddaughter,” she wrote.
More on this story via Conservative Brief:
The NY Post notes that Barbara Rumpel’s LinkedIn notes that she has spent years advocating for gun rights and has been a member of the NRA’s Women’s Leadership Council since 2002. CONTINUE READING…
