Business jet crashes into Florida neighborhood, killing 9

NBC4 Washington posted the YouTube video “9 dead after business jet crashes in Florida neighborhood | NBC4 Washington”, stating that a business jet crash in a Florida neighborhood killed nine. All nine people aboard died.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called the event a “horrific tragedy,” AP News reported, confirming the death toll from the Learjet 60 that went down around 12:50 p.m. Sunday in Greenacres, near West Palm Beach in Palm Beach County.

The Washington Post and AP, citing the Federal Aviation Administration, reported the jet had left Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas bound for the Bahamas. At 35,000 feet the pilots reported turbulence, icing and precipitation and asked to climb another 2,000 feet. The aircraft then entered a steep, accelerating descent. Rates reached 10,000 feet per minute. They climbed to 20,000 feet per minute. Flight tracking and air-traffic recordings showed the dive hit as high as 30,000 feet per minute, pushing the plane past its design limits before it banked sharply right and struck the ground.

AP reported that bystanders filmed from inside cars as the jet plunged and that the plane erupted into a giant fireball near homes and a busy roadway, leaving a fiery crater in the pavement while thick black smoke engulfed the site. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, speaking to reporters at the scene, called it a “cataclysmic plane crash.” “It looked like a missile going down and left a big crater on the side of the road,” he said, according to AP. He said there were no immediate reports of anyone on the ground injured or killed. Palm Beach County authorities evacuated about 600 people from a nearby mobile home community and closed the road until further notice.

Minutes earlier the pilot had radioed controllers, according to LiveATC.net recordings cited by AP: “We have light, clear ice that is manageable and moderate turbulence.” The situation worsened after the climb request. “We're descending 8,000 – mayday, mayday - we’re descending 10,000 feet per minute,” the pilot said. Then: “We are in an overspeed condition descending 20,000 feet per minute.” The final transmission was direct. “We're going to crash into the ground.”

Jim Reynolds, a spokesperson for Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, told AP the jet was a private aircraft but could not immediately provide details on who was aboard. Steve Arroyo, an aviation safety expert, said icing and turbulence could have been factors and may have caused the plane to stall while cruising, AP reported; he added that the NTSB will consider all potential factors, including the pilot’s response, and will not rule anything out at this early stage. The same reporting also notes the FAA is sending a team to support the NTSB investigation. NTSB investigators were expected at the crash site Sunday and Monday, with a media briefing scheduled Monday in West Palm Beach.