Nine Dead As Learjet 60 Crashes Into Palm Beach County Road

A Learjet 60 business jet crashed into a residential area in Palm Beach County, Florida, on Sunday, killing all nine people aboard. The aircraft, registered as N722BD, hit the ground near Military Trail between Cresthaven Boulevard and 10th Avenue North. It had departed Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas and was heading to North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas.

The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed the crash occurred at approximately 12:50 p.m. Eastern time. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy described 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. Investigators were expected to arrive Sunday and Monday morning, and the NTSB planned a media briefing in West Palm Beach on Monday. No cause for the crash has been determined yet.

Officials have not released the names of the victims or specified the breakdown of passengers versus crew. Jim Reynolds, a spokesperson for Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, identified the aircraft as a private jet. He said he could not say who was on the flight. "This is definitely a tragedy," Reynolds said.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis visited the crash site. He told reporters the crash appeared "cataclysmic" and resembled a missile descending from the sky. DeSantis noted that the impact left a large crater beside the road. At the time of his news conference, he said there were no reports of ground casualties. He praised first responders for their rapid action and noted that debris was scattered over a wide area.

Air traffic control recordings reveal that the pilots reported encountering turbulence, icing, and precipitation while flying east at 35,000 feet. They requested to climb 2,000 feet. Minutes before the crash, the pilot told the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center about light, clear ice and moderate turbulence. The pilot reported an outside air temperature of minus 47 degrees Celsius and turbulence that caused the jet to bounce by up to 700 feet.

The situation deteriorated rapidly after the precipitation report. The pilot radioed, "We're descending 8,000, mayday, mayday, we're descending 10,000 feet per minute." The descent rate increased to 20,000 feet per minute as the pilot noted an overspeed condition. CBS News reported the pilot also stated, "We're out of time." The jet eventually reached a descent rate of 30,000 feet per minute, exceeding design limits, before banking sharply right and striking the ground.

Data from ADS-B Exchange shows the jet dropped 27,000 feet in about a minute before the signal was lost. The FAA reported a drop from 35,250 feet to 8,750 feet in the final minute. CNN noted the flight path intersected a stronger storm cell shortly before the descent. The area was under a convective SIGMET, a warning for thunderstorms that threaten aircraft. Whether weather played a role remains undetermined, though heavy rain fell across the region Sunday.

Witnesses captured video of the jet plummeting and exploding near the roadway. Anthony Blackmon, a resident about 500 feet away, said debris struck his house and the road caught fire. "I've always seen it on the news, never thought it would happen so close to somebody like how it happened today," Blackmon told NBC 6. Roger Forcelle, who lived less than half a mile away, said the aircraft shook his home as it passed overhead. "Everybody came out of their houses because you could feel it shaking," he said.

Andrew Mannino told CNN he heard and felt the boom, followed by a power outage and a large black cloud. Another witness described the scene as looking like a meteor had hit the ground. A woman working nearby reported that electricity had been out for roughly two hours. Flames were visible around chunks of pavement in the crater, which was located just feet from homes and inches from passing vehicles.

Approximately 600 residents of a nearby mobile home community had to leave their homes Sunday night. The crash scene blocks the entrance to the park and is being treated as a crime scene while federal investigators work. No official has alleged a crime occurred. Palm Beach County Commissioner Joel Flores, who was the first county official on scene, said residents were being moved 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 was on standby, and Palm Tran buses were ready to transport residents once law enforcement allowed.

Palm Beach County closed Military Trail between 10th Avenue North and Purdy Lane/Alameda Drive. The road is open only to emergency vehicles. Drivers were directed 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 the road may remain closed for an extended period due to the crater and the ongoing federal investigation.

The Learjet 60 is owned by LR60271 LLC of Wilmington, Delaware, according to FAA registry data. CNN reported the jet is listed online for charter flights. Officials have not identified who operated Sunday's flight. The crash is the deadliest ever involving a Learjet 60, according to Flight Safety Foundation data. In 2008, four people were killed when a Learjet 60 bound for Los Angeles crashed on takeoff in Columbia, South Carolina. This crash is the second deadliest in the United States this year, following a skydiving plane crash in Butler, Missouri, in June that killed 12.

Bombardier, the Canadian manufacturer, stopped building new Learjets in 2021 but still supports the aircraft in service. Mary Schiavo, a former Transportation Department inspector general, said dashcam video will be important to investigators. "That is not a controlled descent," Schiavo 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 from the airframe and that a flight recorder might have been destroyed in the explosion. It remains unknown if the jet carried a cockpit voice recorder, as FAA rules require them only for multi-engine jets flown for hire.

The National Weather Service had a flood watch in effect through Monday afternoon. In January 2024, the NTSB issued a safety alert on in-flight icing, warning that ice can make managing the airplane's flightpath and airspeed more difficult and can prevent the airplane from maintaining level flight. No cause has been determined.