Nine Dead as Learjet Plummets Into a Florida Neighborhood

Nine people aboard a Learjet bound from Austin to the Bahamas were killed when it crashed in Florida’s Palm Beach County on Sunday.

(Bloomberg) -- Nine people aboard a Learjet bound from Austin to the Bahamas were killed when it crashed in Florida’s Palm Beach County on Sunday.

The Learjet 60 came down near Cresthaven at 12:50 p.m., US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a post on X. The Federal Aviation Administration is sending a team to the site to support an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board, Duffy said. The crash site is just outside Greenacres, Florida, Phillip Konz, the city’s fire chief, said by email.

The jet was headed east at 35,000 feet (about 11 kilometers) when pilots reported turbulence, icing and precipitation and requested to climb 2,000 feet, the Associated Press reported. Moments later, it entered a steep dive, according to air-traffic control recordings and flight-tracking data cited by AP.

A pilot declared an emergency and issued distress calls, AP reported. The plane banked sharply to the right before it crashed steeply into the ground.

Videos on social media showed the jet plunging straight into the ground at high speed. 

NTSB officials plan to hold a media briefing on Monday, the safety board said.

“Obviously this was a cataclysmic plane crash,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis told reporters in video posted by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. “It looked like a missile going down and left a big crater on the side of the road.”

About 600 residents are being assisted with temporary shelter and other essential needs, according to the sheriff’s office.

The aircraft departed Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas and was headed to North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas, according to the FAA.

(Updates with DeSantis comments, displaced residents starting in seventh paragraph. An earlier version corrected the crash location.)