The Learjet 60 that crashed on Sunday in Palm Beach County, Florida, which resulted in the deaths of all nine occupants, may have started to disintegrate mid-flight, as revealed this Monday by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
"We have some indications that the aircraft began to break apart before impact," said Tom Chapman, a member of the federal agency, during a press conference in West Palm Beach.
The official clarified that it has not yet been confirmed what happened and that investigators might find fragments of the device far from the site where it fell.
The airplane, operated by Aurora Aviation under the commercial name Upper Jet, had taken off from Austin, Texas, headed for the Bahamas. It crashed onto a highway in the Greenacres area of Palm Beach County at around 12:51 p.m. on Sunday, November 1, resulting in the deaths of seven passengers and two crew members.
The last minutes before the tragedy
Communications with air traffic control reveal that the crew reported light ice accumulation and moderate turbulence while flying at an altitude of 35,000 feet, with an outside temperature of minus 47 degrees Celsius.
Shortly thereafter, the pilots requested permission to ascend to 37,000 feet due to the precipitation they were encountering on their flight path.
However, less than 30 seconds after receiving clearance, the airplane began to lose altitude abruptly.
"Mayday, mayday," alerted one of the pilots before communicating that they were descending at a speed exceeding 20,000 feet per minute.
In the recordings of the air communications, a desperate warning is also heard: "We're going to crash to the ground!".
The researcher Timothy Monville explained that the remains were scattered among homes, businesses, and sports areas. One of the main obstacles to reconstructing what happened will be retrieving the fragments from the deep craters opened in the road after the impact.
The NTSB is also trying to locate the cockpit voice recorder. Records indicate that the aircraft was equipped with this device, but it has not yet been confirmed whether it was on board at the time of the accident.
Among the victims, identified by family members and U.S. media, are tech entrepreneur Adam Robinson, 44 years old, his wife, their two young children, a nanny, and two family friends.
Also deceased are pilot Jeff Gregory, 55 years old, and the co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, who was only 20 years old.
The federal agency clarified that it has not yet determined the role of each pilot during the emergency, and therefore requested that people avoid speculating about their responsibilities.
The accident also affected hundreds of residents in the area. Authorities provided accommodation for displaced neighbors from nearly 80 mobile homes, while a driver passing nearby suffered injuries to a leg.
The investigators will continue for several days with the recovery of the remains and the analysis of the weather conditions, communications, and aircraft systems.
The NTSB insisted that it is still too early to determine the cause of the accident, including the possible roles of ice, turbulence, or a structural failure.
Related videos:
Filed under: