Palm Beach County Learjet Crash: 9 Killed

File photo of a different Learjet 60, not the crash aircraft; registration obscured. Photo by Acroterion (CC BY-SA)

The Lowdown

A Learjet 60 on its way from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas came down beside a busy road in Palm Beach County, Florida, on Sunday afternoon. All nine people on board were killed (AP). Officials said nobody on the ground was reported hurt, and the cause is now in the hands of federal investigators (NPR/AP; WFLX).

Key Takeaways

The jet crashed around 12:50 p.m. ET on Sunday, Nov. 1, near Military Trail and 10th Avenue North in the Greenacres area (AP; WFLX).
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said all nine people aboard died and called it a “horrific tragedy” (AP).
Gov. Ron DeSantis said there were no immediate reports of injuries or deaths on the ground (NPR/AP).
About 600 people from a nearby mobile home community are being relocated, and part of Military Trail is closed until further notice (WFLX).
The NTSB is leading the investigation with FAA support. The passengers have not been publicly identified, and no cause has been determined (WFLX; WPBF).

The Story

The business jet left Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas on Sunday bound for North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. It never made it out over the Atlantic. Shortly before 1 p.m. ET, it struck the ground next to Military Trail in Palm Beach County, leaving a crater and a fire a short distance from homes and passing traffic (NPR/AP; WFLX).

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed that evening that all nine people aboard had died (AP). Gov. Ron DeSantis, who visited the scene, called the crash “cataclysmic” and said that, at the time, there were no reports of anyone on the ground being hurt (NPR/AP; WFLX).

Sheriff’s officials placed the crash in Greenacres, a city of about 45,000 roughly 7 miles southwest of West Palm Beach (NPR/AP). Heavy rain was falling across the region that day (NPR/AP).

What the air traffic audio shows

Recordings from air traffic control, posted by the monitoring site LiveATC.net, have spread quickly on social media since Sunday. These are radio calls between the crew and controllers, not the jet’s cockpit voice recorder (NPR/AP).

In them, a pilot reports “light, clear ice that is manageable and moderate turbulence” while cruising at about 35,000 feet and asks to climb. Minutes later the crew declares a mayday and reports a rapid descent in an “overspeed condition” (NPR/AP; NBC 6). According to flight tracking data cited by the Associated Press, the descent rate reached as much as 30,000 feet per minute before the jet banked sharply to the right and hit the ground (NPR/AP). ABC News reported that the FAA put the drop at more than 26,000 feet in a little over a minute (ABC News).

Investigators have not said what caused the jet to go down, and early theories are only that. The National Transportation Safety Board will look at the full picture, including weather, the aircraft and the crew’s actions, before reaching any conclusion (WPBF). Final NTSB reports typically take a year or more.

Evacuations and road closures

Palm Beach County officials said about 600 residents of a nearby mobile home community would be relocated while investigators work the scene, with shelters and county buses on standby (WFLX). Military Trail between 10th Avenue North and Purdy Lane/Alameda Drive is closed to all but emergency vehicles until further notice, and officials warned the damage to the road could keep it shut for some time (WFLX). A nearby high school was closed on Monday (WFLX).

The NTSB sent a team to the site and scheduled a media briefing in West Palm Beach for Monday, Nov. 2 (NPR/AP). The FAA said the NTSB will lead the investigation and provide all further updates (WFLX).

The Background

The Learjet 60 is a midsize business jet built by Learjet, later part of Bombardier, and is widely used for private and charter flights (Wikipedia). FAA registry records list the aircraft involved as a Learjet 60 registered to a limited liability company in Wilmington, Delaware (FAA registry). An Austin-Bergstrom spokesperson described the flight as private (NPR/AP).

The people on board have not been publicly identified. Pop Culture Pit will not name passengers unless and until officials or their families do, and we will update this story with findings from the NTSB.