A frequent donor to the NRA and Republican candidates and causes told reporters that he lost several family members in the Sunday accident of a private jet that violated restricted airspace.

Sunday at 3:30 p.m., John Rumpel told The Washington Post that his “entire family” was aboard the Cessna Citation that plummeted near Montebello, Virginia.

According to multiple news sources, including The New York Times, Rumpel’s daughter, 2-year-old granddaughter, and a caregiver perished along with the pilot.

The Daily Mail of the United Kingdom identified the daughter as 49-year-old Adina Azarian and reported that the Rumpels had lost another daughter in a scuba diving catastrophe when she was only 19 years old.

The aircraft was owned by Rumpel and his wife’s company, Encore Motors of Melbourne, Florida, according to federal records cited by The Daily Beast.

After entering restricted airspace above Washington, D.C., it was intercepted by two F-16 fighter aircraft. Six aircraft were dispatched in response to the incursion, but only two “inspected” the private jet, North American Aerospace Defense Command officials told The Washington Post.

The scrambling aircraft caused a sonic explosion that “startled residents across the District, Maryland and Virginia around 3:10 p.m.,” according to the Post.

The aircraft deployed pyrotechnics to attract the attention of the Cessna’s pilot, who appeared to have lost consciousness and was unresponsive.

The private aircraft appeared to be on automation, according to the Daily Mail.

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.”

According to the Times, Rumpel is himself a pilot.

He told the Times, in a breaking voice, that if the plane had lost cabin pressure, “they all just would have gone to sleep and never woke 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.” CONTINUE READING…