Learjet may have broken up before crashing in Florida, investigators say

The National Transportation Safety Board said ⁠on Monday a Learjet ⁠60 that crashed on Sunday ⁠in a residential area in Palm Beach County, Florida, killing all nine people on board, may have broken up before hitting the ground at high speed.

The private Bombardier-made jet had taken off from Austin, Texas, and ‌was headed to the Bahamas. Heavy rainfall and thunderstorms were occurring in the area where it went down.

Nasa Administrator Jared Isaacman, posting on X, highlighted the harrowing experience of those on the aircraft, including the 20-year-old co-pilot.

“She was doing her job, communicating with (air traffic control) right to the end in a ⁠terrifying situation,” Isaacman wrote. “She likely knew before many of those calls that she was going ‌to die.”

The victims included co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, 20, who made the final radio transmissions, as well as Austin technology entrepreneur Adam Robinson, his wife, Helen Sharp, and their two young children, relatives said.

Filgueiras’ mother, Camila Corteleti, told the New York Post and The New York Times that her daughter earned her pilot’s licence in 2023 while a 17-year-old senior at West Boca Raton Community High School in Florida. FAA records showed Filgueiras was rated to fly the Learjet 60, but was not certified to act as pilot-in-command of the flight.

9 dead after private jet crash in Florida

A jet can break up in mid-air at very high rates of descent, subjecting passengers to extreme physical forces.

Videos on social ‌media showed the jet slamming into the ground next to a road ⁠and exploding. The ⁠pilots reported ice at 35,000 feet (10,668 metres) but then reported the plane was descending at a rate of ‌10,000 feet per minute, which quickly increased to 22,000 feet per minute.

“The weather conditions are a major focus ‌of ‌the investigation,” NTSB board member Tom Chapman said. Maintenance records indicate a cockpit voice ‌recorder was installed on the jet, but investigators do not know whether it was ⁠still on board, he added.

The crash left a massive crater by the road near the entrance ⁠to a mobile home park, which was partially filled with water because of the severe storms, Chapman said.

“We do have some evidence that ‌there was some break-up ‌of the aircraft before impact,” he said. “We may find parts of the aircraft some distance away from the actual impact site.”