Learjet 60 Crashes in Palm Beach County, Killing All Nine

A private Learjet 60 business jet crashed into a residential neighborhood in Palm Beach County, Florida, on Sunday, November 1, killing all nine people aboard, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said. The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed the crash occurred at approximately 12:50 p.m. Eastern time. The aircraft had departed Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas and was heading to North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas. The FAA said nine people were on board and called its information preliminary.

Duffy characterized the incident as a "horrific tragedy" in a social media post. He stated that the FAA is dispatching a team to assist the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation. The NTSB launched a go-team Sunday, with investigators expected to arrive Sunday and Monday morning. A media briefing is scheduled for Monday in West Palm Beach. No cause for the crash has been determined.

Officials have not released the names of the victims or the breakdown between passengers and crew. Jim Reynolds, a spokesperson for Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, told the Associated Press that the aircraft was private. He said he could not say who was on the flight, calling the event "definitely a tragedy."

The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office located the crash site near Military Trail between Cresthaven Boulevard and 10th Avenue North. The accident occurred in Greenacres, a city of approximately 45,000 residents located about seven miles southwest of West Palm Beach. The site sits roughly four miles south of the airport in West Palm Beach, which was renamed President Donald J. Trump International Airport earlier this year. President Trump was in West Palm Beach earlier Sunday and departed on Air Force One more than an hour before the crash, according to CNN.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis visited the scene and described the event as a "cataclysmic plane crash." He told reporters the jet looked like a missile going down and left a large crater beside the road. DeSantis stated there were no immediate reports of ground casualties. He noted that debris scattered over a long distance and praised local first responders for their rapid response.

Witnesses captured video of the jet plummeting, striking the ground near the roadway, and exploding. Flames surrounded chunks of pavement lining the crater, which was positioned feet from homes and inches from passing vehicles. Thick black smoke covered the area, and video from WPBF showed the road surface buckled where the jet impacted.

Anthony Blackmon, a resident living about 500 feet from the crash site, told NBC 6 that debris hit his house. "Debris was everywhere. Debris hit my house. Everything was on fire. The road was on fire," Blackmon said. He added that he had never imagined such an event happening so close to his home. Roger Forcelle said he felt the aircraft pass overhead, shaking his house. He estimated the crash occurred less than half a mile from his residence. Andrew Mannino told CNN that he heard and felt the boom, and the power went out immediately. He smelled smoke and saw a large black cloud rise into the air.

About 600 residents in a nearby mobile home community had to leave their homes Sunday night because the crash scene blocks the park entrance and is being treated as a crime scene while federal investigators work, county officials said. No official has alleged that a crime took place. Palm Beach County Commissioner Joel Flores, who was the first county official on site, said residents are being sent to two county shelters. "So we have about 600 people that we have to make sure that they have shelter tonight," Flores said. The Red Cross is on standby, and Palm Tran buses are ready to transport residents once law enforcement permits.

County officials closed Military Trail between 10th Avenue North and Purdy Lane/Alameda Drive to all traffic except emergency vehicles. The county advised drivers to use 10th Avenue North and Purdy Lane/Alameda Drive for east-west travel and Haverhill Road and Kirk Road for north-south travel. A commissioner warned that the road may remain closed for an extended period because of the crater, and officials said the timeline also depends on the federal investigation.

Air traffic control recordings show the jet was flying east at about 35,000 feet when the pilots reported turbulence, icing, and precipitation. They requested to climb 2,000 feet. Minutes before the crash, the pilot told the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center: "We have light, clear ice that is manageable and moderate turbulence." The pilot also reported an outside air temperature of minus 47 degrees Celsius and turbulence that bounced the jet by up to 700 feet.

The descent began rapidly after the precipitation report. "We're descending 8,000, mayday, mayday, we're descending 10,000 feet per minute," the pilot radioed. The pilot later stated: "We are in an overspeed condition descending 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 peaked at 30,000 feet per minute, pushing the jet beyond design limits. The plane banked sharply 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. Flight tracking data from ADS-B Exchange showed a drop of 27,000 feet in about a minute before the signal cut off.

Scattered storms were present in the area, and the jet passed through a stronger storm cell shortly before the descent, according to CNN. The flight was in an area where the FAA had issued a convective SIGMET warning of threatening thunderstorms. Heavy rain fell across the region on Sunday, and the National Weather Service had a flood watch in effect through Monday afternoon. In January 2024, the NTSB issued a safety alert warning that ice can make managing the flightpath and airspeed more difficult.

Mary Schiavo, a CNN aviation analyst and former Transportation Department inspector general, said dashcam video will be important to investigators. "That is not a controlled descent," she said. "So at that point, it's clear whatever happened, they had lost control of the plane." She noted that the steep dive could have torn parts off the aircraft and that a flight recorder might have been destroyed in the explosion. It is unknown if the jet carried a cockpit voice recorder. FAA rules require multi-engine jets to carry one only when flown for hire; records show this jet was offered for charter.

The aircraft, registered as N722BD, is listed in FAA records as a Learjet 60 owned by LR60271 LLC of Wilmington, Delaware. CNN reported the jet is listed online as available for charter. Officials have not identified who operated the Sunday flight. This is the deadliest crash involving a Learjet 60, according to Flight Safety Foundation data. In 2008, four people were killed 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 Learjet brand, made famous by Bill Lear in the 1960s, was last manufactured by Bombardier, which stopped production in 2021.