(Bloomberg) — US air safety investigators said there are early indications the Learjet 60 that crashed in Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday had broken up before impacting the ground, killing all nine people on board and injuring at least one person on the ground. “We’re still seeking to determine that,” National Transportation Safety Board Member Tom Chapman told reporters in Florida on Monday when asked if the aircraft’s horizontal stabilizer had come off before the crash, as was indicated by some social media posts. Adverse weather conditions are also a major focus of the investigation, Chapman added. He said the pilots reported experiencing moderate turbulence and icing to air traffic controllers. The pilots then asked to climb, before beginning a rapid descent and transmitting over the radio the aircraft was in an “overspeed condition,” he said. Quick answers to key questions •5 QUESTIONS The cause has not been determined. The NTSB is investigating, with adverse weather, including reported turbulence and icing, among its areas of focus. The NTSB said there were early indications the aircraft may have broken up before impact. Investigators were still working to determine whether parts such as the horizontal stabilizer came off beforehand. The pilots reported moderate turbulence and icing, and requested to climb. Investigators said they still needed to determine the weather conditions at the aircraft’s altitude. After flying from Austin toward the Bahamas, the aircraft began a rapid descent and the pilot reported an overspeed condition. The final transmission included the words “out of time” before the jet crashed near Palm Beach. All nine people aboard the Learjet were killed. The NTSB also said one person on the ground sustained a leg injury. “We’re going to crash into the ground,” an unidentified pilot can be heard telling controllers shortly after, according to an audio recording posted online by Liveatc.net, a network that broadcasts live and archived air traffic control radio communications. The last transmission before the aircraft crashed into the ground was the pilot saying they were “out of time.” Weather at the nearby Palm Beach airport at the time of the crash indicated gusting winds, rain and low clouds. “You all saw what the weather was like here at the surface,” Chapman said. “What we have to determine is what the weather conditions were like at altitude.” The Learjet flew for approximately two hours after leaving Austin for the Bahamas and began its rapid descent around 12:48 p.m. local time on Sunday, according to preliminary data from Flightradar24. The data indicates the plane’s vertical descent rate eventually exceeded 32,000 feet per minute. Dashboard camera footage showed an almost vertical plunge before the impact and explosion alongside a highway. The NTSB said it was aware of one person on the ground who sustained a leg injury while driving a vehicle near the impact site. Chapman confirmed the aircraft was operated by Aurora Aviation Inc., doing business as Upper Jets. Attempts to reach representatives for Upper Jets were unsuccessful. The New York Times interviewed a woman, who said she was the mother of one of the pilots of the aircraft — a 20-year-old named Nathalia Filgueiras. According to the report, Filgueiras earned a pilot’s license at 17 and had logged more than 1,300 hours of flight time. A Threads account belonging to a Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras includes a post from March in which she’s posing from inside a Learjet 60, with the caption referencing her as pilot in command. Following the crash, some people took to social media to speculate about how the pilot’s unconfirmed age, race, gender or experience could have contributed to the accident. In a social media post to his personal X account, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman defended the pilot, writing that “she was doing her job, communicating with ATC right to the end in a terrifying situation.” Flight training is typically an arduous and costly process, with future pilots striving for a so-called type rating, an airframe-specific certification legally needed to fly any jet-powered aircraft. Though a pilot can earn initial qualification at the age of 17 in the US, completing the additional ratings and pre-requisites needed to earn their first type rating typically takes years. And even if candidates meet regulatory minimums, a hot job market for pilots has made jet aircraft careers fiercely competitive, with employers demanding even more hours and experience. Local first responders and officials declined to comment on the identity of any victims, and Tom Nadler, deputy county administrator for Palm Beach County, said there is DNA that needs to be matched before victims can be definitively identified. Officials said about 400 people had been displaced from near the crash site and the local government was working to temporarily relocate any impacted individuals. –With assistance from Matthew Griffin and Mathieu Dion. (Updates with additional air traffic audio from fourth paragraph and NASA administrator’s post in 14th paragraph.) More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com Source link Post navigation Diwali 2026 with green crackers: What are approvals required by firework manufacturers as SC allows bursting on Nov 7, 8
