Learjet crashes in residential Florida, killing all nine on board

A Learjet crashed on Sunday afternoon in a residential area of Palm Beach County, Florida, killing all nine people on board, US transportation officials said, Dawn and Geo News reported.

The private jet had taken off from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas and was heading to North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said.

Videos on social media showed the jet slamming into the ground beside a road and exploding.

“Like a missile coming down”

“It was a big-time tragedy that happened,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said at a press conference near the crash site in Lake Worth Beach. “When you see that video, it’s a jarring thing. It was like a missile coming down, and a massive explosion, debris going everywhere.”

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called it a “horrific tragedy”. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has launched an investigation.

The last minute in the cockpit

A Miami air traffic control recording posted on LiveATC captured the jet’s final moments. At first, someone in the cockpit said they were “managing the ice” and facing “moderate” turbulence, and asked for “better rides”. Less than a minute later:

• “Mayday, mayday”: the person reported the plane suddenly descending at 10,000 feet per minute.
• Emergency declared: seconds later, the rate of descent had reached 20,000 feet per minute.
• “We’re going to crash into the ground”: less than 20 seconds later, the descent rate was 22,000 feet per minute and the plane had begun to bank.
• “We’re out of time”: about 35 seconds after the first mayday, this was the last thing heard.

Flightradar24 said its data showed the vertical descent rate at one point exceeded 32,000 feet per minute. To put that in perspective, 20,000 feet per minute is a drop of about 330 feet every second, and 32,000 feet per minute is more than 530 feet every second. Heavy rain and thunderstorms were in the area at the time, according to AccuWeather.

On the ground

The crash left a “massive crater” by the road near the entrance to a mobile home park, Palm Beach County Commissioner Joel Flores said. About 600 people were evacuated and moved to two shelters.

FAA records list the Bombardier-made Learjet 60’s owner as a Delaware corporation. Canada-based Bombardier said it would fully support the investigation.

What we know, and what we don’t

• Known: nine people died, the plane was a Learjet 60, and it was on a flight from Texas to the Bahamas.
• Known: someone in the cockpit reported turbulence, ice and then a mayday with a very fast descent, and heavy storms were in the area.
• Unknown: the cause of the crash. The NTSB investigation will take time, and the recording alone cannot explain why the plane dived.
• Unknown: the names of those on board, which officials had not released in the reports.

Why it matters

The recording shows how fast events moved: about 35 seconds from the first mayday to the last transmission.

Aviation accidents have also made news in Pakistan, where army pilots were martyred in a Mushshak trainer crash near Quetta in October.

This article draws on reporting by Dawn and Geo News.