Learjet 60 Kills Nine in Palm Beach County Crash

Nine people died on Sunday, November 1, when a Learjet 60 business jet plummeted into a neighborhood in Palm Beach County, Florida, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said. The aircraft was heading to the Bahamas when it struck the ground near a busy road.

Flight tracking site ADS-B Exchange showed a drop of 27,000 feet in about a minute before the data cut off, CNN reported. The Federal Aviation Administration said the jet crashed at about 12:50 p.m. Eastern time. The jet had departed Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Austin, Texas.

Duffy described the event as a horrific tragedy in a post on X. He said the FAA is sending a team to support the National Transportation Safety Board investigation. The NTSB is leading the inquiry and said Sunday it was launching a go-team. Investigators were expected to arrive Sunday and Monday morning, and the NTSB planned a media briefing in West Palm Beach on Monday.

Officials have not released the names of the nine victims or specified how many were crew members versus passengers. Jim Reynolds, a spokesperson for Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, identified the jet as a private aircraft. He told the Associated Press he could not say who was on the flight.

The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office placed the crash site near Military Trail, between Cresthaven Boulevard and 10th Avenue North. The impact occurred in Greenacres, a city of about 45,000 people roughly seven miles southwest of West Palm Beach. The site is roughly four miles south of the local airport, which was renamed President Donald J. Trump International Airport earlier this year.

President Trump was in West Palm Beach earlier in the day. He departed on Air Force One more than an hour before the jet crashed, according to CNN. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis visited the scene and told reporters it "looked like a missile going down." He noted that the impact left a large crater on the side of the road and called the event a major tragedy.

DeSantis stated that no one on the ground had been reported killed or injured as of his news conference. He praised first responders for their rapid action and noted that debris scattered over a long distance. Video recorded by drivers captured the jet hitting the ground and exploding. Flames surrounded chunks of pavement near the crater, which was feet from homes and inches from passing vehicles.

Anthony Blackmon, a resident living about 500 feet from the crash, said debris hit his house and everything was on fire. He said he had always seen such events on the news but never imagined it would happen so close to him. Roger Forcelle said he felt the aircraft pass over his home and noted the house shook. He estimated the crash occurred less than half a mile from his residence.

Andrew Mannino told CNN that he heard and felt a boom, and the power went out immediately. He smelled smoke and saw a large black cloud rise into the air. Another witness described the aftermath as looking like a meteor had struck the ground. A woman working nearby reported that the electricity had been out for about two hours.

About 600 residents in a nearby mobile home community had to leave their homes on Sunday night. The crash scene blocks the entrance to the park and is being treated as a crime scene while federal investigators work, county officials said. No official has alleged a crime took place. Palm Beach County Commissioner Joel Flores said residents are being sent to two county shelters, with the Red Cross standing by.

The county closed Military Trail between 10th Avenue North and Purdy Lane/Alameda Drive to traffic other than emergency vehicles. Drivers were directed to use 10th Avenue North and Purdy Lane/Alameda Drive for east-west travel. Haverhill Road and Kirk Road serve as north-south alternatives. A county commissioner warned that the road closure could last an extended period because of the crater, and officials said the timeline also depends on the federal investigation.

Air traffic control recordings show the pilots reported turbulence, icing, and precipitation while flying east at 35,000 feet. The pilot requested a climb of 2,000 feet. Minutes before the crash, the pilot told the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center that the aircraft had light, clear ice and moderate turbulence. The outside air temperature was recorded at minus 47 degrees Celsius.

The pilot reported turbulence that bounced the jet by up to 700 feet. The situation changed rapidly as the pilot radioed that the jet was descending 10,000 feet per minute. The pilot then announced an overspeed condition with a descent rate of 20,000 feet per minute. The pilot then said, "We're going to crash into the ground." CBS News reported the pilot also said, "We're out of time."

The descent rate reached 30,000 feet per minute, pushing the jet beyond its design limits. The plane banked sharply to the right before hitting the ground at a steep angle. The FAA said the jet fell from 35,250 feet to 8,750 feet in one minute just before the crash. Scattered storms were in the area, and the jet passed through a stronger storm cell shortly before the descent. The FAA had issued a convective SIGMET for the region.

Heavy rain fell across the region on Sunday, and the National Weather Service had a flood watch in effect through Monday afternoon. The NTSB issued a safety alert on in-flight icing in January 2024, warning that ice can prevent an airplane from maintaining level flight. Mary Schiavo, a CNN aviation analyst, said dashcam video will be important to investigators. She noted that the steep dive suggests the pilots lost control of the plane.

The crash is the deadliest ever involving a Learjet 60, according to Flight Safety Foundation data. In 2008, four people died when a Learjet 60 crashed on takeoff in Columbia, South Carolina. This incident is the second deadliest crash in the United States this year, following a skydiving plane crash in Butler, Missouri, in June that killed 12 people. The jet, registered as N722BD, is owned by LR60271 LLC of Wilmington, Delaware, and was listed online as available for charter.

Learjet, a brand made famous by the Lear 23 in the 1960s, was most recently built by Bombardier. The Canadian manufacturer stopped making new Learjets in 2021 but continues to support the planes in service. Officials have not said who operated Sunday’s flight. It is not known whether the jet carried a cockpit voice recorder, which FAA rules require of multi-engine jets only when they are flown for hire.