F-16 fighter jets took off Sunday to pursue a Cessna jet that violated airspace over the US capital and then crashed in mountainous terrain in southwest Virginia, US officials said.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) says it was not possible to contact the Cessna pilot until the plane crashed near George Washington National Park in Virginia. The fighters are even said to have thrown flares in an attempt to get the attention of the Cessna pilot.

ABC News reported that F-16 fighter jets took off from Andrews Air Force Base to pursue the Cessna and the pilot said he saw the captain pass out.

According to a well-informed source cited by Reuters, the Cessna was flying on autopilot.

A small Cessna Citation aircraft capable of carrying between 7 and 12 passengers was carrying four people, according to unconfirmed reports from CNN. No survivors were found at the impact site.

Residents of Washington, Virginia and Maryland were alarmed by the “supersonic strikes” of fighter jets that rushed to intercept the Cessna and broke the sound barrier.

The U.S. official stressed that fighter jets were not the cause of the Cessna crash.

The Cessna took off from Elizabethton Airport in Tennessee and headed to MacArthur Airport on New York’s Long Island, about 50 miles east of Manhattan, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said.

According to flight tracking website Flight Aware, the plane was approaching the New York area, then turned almost 180 degrees and ended up in Virginia.

Although rare, accidents have been reported involving pilots who have passed out in flight. Professional golfer Payne Stewart was among five victims of such a plane crash in 1999. The plane he was on was on autopilot until it ran out of fuel and crashed in South Dakota, killing all on board.

Source: APE-MPE, CNN.