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Barbara and John Rumpel, the devastated parents of Adina Azarian, a 49-year-old real estate agent, who died alongside her toddler in a Virginia plane crash on June 5, 2023, mourned the tragic loss of their daughter and granddaughter.
Adina Azarian was traveling with her 2-year-old daughter Aria and a nanny on the family’s Cessna passenger aircraft when disaster struck as the plane crashed into mountainous terrain near the George Washington National Forest, Virginia, around 3:30 pm on Sunday.
The plane that took off from Tennessee and bound for Adina Azarian’s east Hampton home reportedly veered off course and inexplicably ended up in the restricted U.S. airspace over Washington, D.C. Shortly after, the unauthorized invasion of the Cessna passenger aircraft into protected airspace prompted an aerial chase with Pentagon jets around 3.20 pm.
Officials said that the ensuing chase caused a sonic boom that was heard across the Washington D.C. area as the Pentagon jets scrambled and went supersonic to catch up with the out-of-control plane with an unresponsive pilot flying in the restricted airspace.
Ten minutes later, the plane crashed in the Virginia woods. Authorities, who have yet to find the four passengers, including the pilot, said that it is unlikely anyone survived the crash.
On Sunday night, John Rumpel, the owner of Encore Motors of Melbourne, Florida, confirmed that his daughter and granddaughter died in the Virginia plane crash.
John and Barabara Rumple, who spoke from the family’s North Carolina vacation home, told CBS that they had adopted Adina Azarian after their teenage daughter Victoria Rumpel died in a scuba diving accident in 1994.
A heartbroken father, John Rumpel said that Adina Azarian, who worked at the Bridgehampton office, was the kindest individual he had ever met.
"I never met a sweeter person than Adina. This is the second daughter I have lost, and she was the most wonderful human being I have ever met. We adopted her a few years back."
Meanwhile, Adina’s mother, Barabara Rumpel, who confirmed her family had perished in the deadly crash on Sunday night via Facebook post, thanked everyone for their kind words. She also expressed her gratitude toward law enforcement for their search efforts and asked for privacy as they continue to mourn for their family.
"We'd like to thank everyone who has reached out with words of comfort. We are all so very grateful for the efforts of the first responders, and the FAA and the NTSB, the state police."
She added:
"As we grieve all the lives lost, we respectfully ask for privacy during this difficult time.”
Adina Azarian a successful Real Estate Agent graduated from Syracuse University
As the parents were visibly bereft at the loss of their loved ones, Adina Azarian’s friends appeared equally crushed by the death of their friend, who they described as a doting single mother of Aria.
Brivic-Looper, who attended the Dwight School in New York City along with Adina, told the New York Post that her daughter, who was conceived through IVF, was the most important person for the successful single mom.
Adina Azarian, a graduate of Syracuse University, worked as a real estate agent for Keller Williams Realty, Inc. in East Hampton and owned her business Adina Equities in Manhattan for years.
Azarian, who gave birth to her daughter Aria on September 28, 2020, shared her IVF journey in a poignant Facebook post. She said:
“Three years ago I decided I wanted to choose to become a mother. With my biological clock ticking, I ended up on a long journey of fertility treatments, IUI, IVF, multiple miscarriages, failed embryo transfers and more.I went inward and drew upon my own inner strength to keep going. It was hard but I knew deep down there would be a miracle if I did not give up.”
As loved ones continue to mourn the loss of Adina Azarian and her daughter, officials are exploring the circumstances that led up to the crash.
Investigators are still trying to piece together the mystery of how the aircraft bound for East Hampton veered off course and ended up in Virginia airspace. Per Daily Beast, authorities purported that the loss of cabin pressure might have rendered the passengers, including the pilot, unconscious, causing the unmanned plane to veer off its destination.
