The crash of a private jet in Central Virginia on Sunday has striking similarities to air disasters that resulted from the incapacitation of pilots due to a loss of pressurization and one noticeably unusual  (if not unprecedented) element. When pilots of the Cessna Citation failed to respond to numerous radio calls fighter jets were dispatched to check things out. Speeding toward the wayward Citation, at least one of the six Air National Guard F-16s broke the sound barrier, generating a sonic boom heard across the Washington DC region. That more than any other reason explains the headlines about what would be another fatal general aviation… Read More…