WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The Learjet 60 that crashed into a Palm Beach County neighborhood on Sunday, killing all nine people on board, began breaking up before it hit the ground, investigators said Monday, according to the Associated Press.
National Transportation Safety Board member Tom Chapman gave the update at the agency’s first media briefing on the crash, held in West Palm Beach on Monday.
“We do have some evidence that there was some breakup of the aircraft before impact. We’re still seeking to determine that.”
The flight, a charter operated by Aurora Aviation, doing business as Upper Jets, left Austin, Texas, at 10:37 a.m. Sunday for North Eleuthera in the Bahamas, Chapman said. Two crew members and seven passengers were on board.
At 35,000 feet, the crew reported light, clear ice and moderate turbulence that was jolting the jet by as much as 700 feet, air traffic control recordings showed. Controllers cleared the jet to climb to 37,000 feet after the crew reported picking up precipitation.
Less than 30 seconds later, the jet reported it was descending, and a mayday call followed, Chapman said. A pilot radioed, “We are in an overspeed condition descending 20,000 feet per minute,” and the final transmission was, “We’re going to crash into the ground.”
The jet came down beside Military Trail near Cresthaven Boulevard in Greenacres at about 12:50 p.m., leaving a crater in the roadway. Investigator-in-charge Timothy Monville said debris spread across roughly half a mile by four-tenths of a mile, reaching homes, businesses and recreational fields.
One person driving away from the area suffered a leg injury, Monville said, and no other injuries on the ground were reported. About 600 residents of a nearby mobile home community were evacuated to shelters, county officials said, and Military Trail remained closed until further notice.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, who visited the scene on Sunday, called it “a cataclysmic plane crash.” “It looked like a missile going down and left a big crater on the side of the road,” he said.
Families name the nine killed
The passengers’ families issued a joint statement on Monday naming the seven passengers: Adam Robinson, 45; his wife, Helen Sharp, 40; and their children Charlie, 4, and Emma, 2. Also killed were the children’s nanny, Anita Maria Cetina, and friends Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr.
Relatives identified the pilots as Capt. Jeff Gregory, 55, and co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, 20. Filgueiras earned her pilot’s license at 17 and had logged more than 1,300 flight hours, her family said.
The Palm Beach County Medical Examiner’s Office said it was still working to officially identify all nine victims.
“We are deeply grateful to the first responders, investigators, and the Palm Beach County community for their care,” the families said in the statement. “Our hearts are also with the families of the pilots, who are grieving alongside us.”
Recorder question remains open
About 20 investigators are working on the crash, Monville said. Maintenance records indicate a cockpit voice recorder was installed on the jet, Chapman said, but investigators do not yet know whether it was still on board or can be recovered.
Weather will be a major focus of the inquiry, and investigators have not determined whether the jet flew into an active thunderstorm or what caused the descent, Chapman said. Heavy rain crossed Florida through the weekend, and the flooding it left behind forced a flash flood emergency in Brevard County on Monday.
The NTSB is expected to issue a preliminary report within weeks. A final report with a probable cause typically takes one to two years.
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