Learjet may have broken up before crashing in Florida, investigators say

The US National Transportation Safety Board said on Monday a Learjet 60 that crashed on Sunday in a residential area in Palm ​Beach County, Florida, killing all nine people on board, may have ‌broken up before hitting the ground at high speed. Picture: Saul Martinez/Getty Images

The US National Transportation Safety Board said on Monday a Learjet 60 that crashed on Sunday in a residential area in Palm ​Beach County, Florida, killing all nine people on board, may have ‌broken up before hitting the ground at high speed.

The private Bombardier-made jet had taken off from Austin, Texas, and was headed to the Bahamas. 

Heavy rainfall and thunderstorms were ​occurring in the area where it went down.

NASA administrator Jared Isaacman, posting ​on X, highlighted the harrowing experience of those on the aircraft, ⁠including the 20-year-old copilot.

"She was doing her job, communicating with (air traffic control) ​right to the end in a terrifying situation," Isaacman wrote. "She likely knew before ​many of those calls that she was going to die."

A jet can break up in mid-air at very high rates of descent, subjecting passengers to extreme physical forces.

Videos on social ​media showed the jet slamming into the ground next to a road and ​exploding. 

The pilots reported ice at 35,000 ft but then reported the plane was ‌descending ⁠at a rate of 10,000 ft per minute, which quickly increased to 22,000 ft per minute.

"The weather conditions are a major focus of the investigation," NTSB board member Tom Chapman said. 

Maintenance records indicate a cockpit voice recorder was ​installed on the jet, ​but investigators do ⁠not know whether it was still on board, he added.

The crash left a massive crater by the road near ​the entrance to a mobile home park, which was partially ​filled with ⁠water because of the severe storms, Chapman said.

"We do have some evidence that there was some breakup of the aircraft before impact," he said. "We may find parts ⁠of ​the aircraft some distance away from the actual ​impact site."

Nathalia Filgueiras, 20, was the co-pilot of the private Learjet 60 her mother told The New York Times.

Later on Monday, the family of the passengers who died posted a statement on Facebook identifying the victims and paying tribute to them.

It named them as Adam Robinson, 45, a Texas-based technology entrepreneur; his wife Helen Sharp, 40; and their children, Emma, four, and Charlie, two. The statement said close family friends Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr were also killed, along with Anita Maria Cetina, the children’s nanny.

The pilot in charge of the Learjet was identified by TMZ and other media outlets on Monday as Jeff Gregory, 55, an experienced aviator from Pennsylvania.

The Catholic diocese of Palm Beach dedicated an All Souls’ Day Mass on Monday to the nine people who died, the Palm Beach Post reported.

- additional reporting from The Guardian