Learjet crashes in Palm Beach County, killing all nine on board

Nine people died Sunday when a private business jet fell from the sky and crashed into a residential area in Palm Beach County, Florida.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed that all nine individuals aboard the aircraft were killed. The Federal Aviation Administration stated the crash occurred at approximately 12:50 p.m. Eastern time. The jet had departed Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas and was heading to North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas. The FAA described its initial information as preliminary.

Duffy described the incident as a horrific tragedy in a post on X. He said the FAA is dispatching a team to assist the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation. The NTSB said Sunday it was launching a go-team, 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 yet.

Officials have not released the names of the nine victims or specified the split between passengers and crew. Jim Reynolds, a spokesperson for Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, identified the aircraft as private. He told the Associated Press that he could not disclose who was on the flight. He called the event a definite tragedy.

The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said the jet came down near Military Trail, between Cresthaven Boulevard and 10th Avenue North. The site is in Greenacres, a city of roughly 45,000 residents located about seven miles southwest of West Palm Beach. This area is approximately four miles south of President Donald J. Trump International Airport. CNN reported that President Trump was in West Palm Beach earlier Sunday and left the airport on Air Force One a little more than an hour before the crash.

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. DeSantis said there were no reports of ground casualties at the time of his news conference. He praised local first responders for their rapid response and noted the debris field stretched a significant distance.

Video from nearby vehicles captured the jet plunging from the sky, striking near the roadway, and exploding. Flames surrounded chunks of pavement lining the crater, which sat feet from homes and inches from passing vehicles. Thick black smoke covered the area. Video from WPBF showed the road surface buckled where the jet impacted.

Anthony Blackmon, a resident about 500 feet from the crash, told NBC 6 that debris hit his house and everything was on fire. He said the road was on fire. He added that he had always seen such events on the news but never expected it to happen so close. Roger Forcelle said he felt the aircraft pass over his home, causing the house to shake. 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 immediately went out. He smelled smoke and saw a large black cloud rise. Another witness said the aftermath looked like a meteor had struck the ground. A woman working nearby reported the electricity had been out for about two hours.

County officials said about 600 residents in a nearby mobile home community had to evacuate Sunday night. The crash scene blocks the park entrance and is being treated as a crime scene for federal investigators. No official has alleged a crime occurred. County Commissioner Joel Flores, who represents District 3 and was the first county official at the scene, said residents were being moved to two county shelters. He noted the Red Cross was standing by and Palm Tran buses were ready to transport residents once law enforcement cleared the way.

Palm Beach County closed Military Trail between 10th Avenue North and Purdy Lane/Alameda Drive until further notice. The road remains open only to 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 county commissioner warned that parts of the road could 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 flying east at about 35,000 feet when 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 that they had light, clear ice that was manageable and moderate turbulence. The pilot reported an outside air temperature of minus 47 degrees Celsius and turbulence that bounced the jet by up to 700 feet. The pilot then radioed, "We're descending 8,000, mayday, mayday, we're descending 10,000 feet per minute." They reported an overspeed condition while descending 20,000 feet per minute. The pilot said they were going to crash into the ground, and CBS News reported the pilot also said they were out of time. The descent rate reached as high as 30,000 feet per minute, pushing the jet beyond its design limits, the AP reported. 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 site ADS-B Exchange showed a drop of 27,000 feet in about a minute before data ceased. CNN reported 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, warning of thunderstorms that threaten aircraft. Whether weather played a role has not been determined. Heavy rain fell across the region Sunday, and the National Weather Service maintained a flood watch through Monday afternoon. The NTSB issued a safety alert on in-flight icing in January 2024, warning that ice can make managing flightpath and airspeed difficult.

Mary Schiavo, a CNN aviation analyst and former inspector general of the U.S. Transportation Department, said dashcam video will be important to investigators. She stated that the steep dive indicated the pilots had lost control of the plane. She noted the dive could have torn parts off the aircraft and that a flight recorder might have been destroyed in the explosion. It is unclear if the jet carried a cockpit voice recorder. FAA rules require multi-engine jets to carry one only when flown for hire, and records show this jet was offered for charter flights. The aircraft, registered as N722BD, is a Learjet 60 owned by LR60271 LLC of Wilmington, Delaware. This crash is the deadliest ever involving a Learjet 60, according to Flight Safety Foundation data cited by CNN. It is the second deadliest crash in the United States this year, after a skydiving plane crash in Butler, Missouri, in June that killed 12. Bombardier, which stopped making new Learjets in 2021, still supports the planes in service.