Learjet 60 crashes in South Florida, killing all nine aboard

news.com.au posted a YouTube video titled “LISTEN: The heartbreaking mayday call of doomed private jet.” The channel’s description says air traffic control audio captured a crew member screaming “we’re going to die” as a $2.8 million private jet plummeted into a South Florida mobile home park.

All nine people aboard were killed.

NBC News reported that the same ATC audio records a woman calling, “Mayday, mayday. We’re descending 10,000 feet per minute.” She later said the jet was falling at 20,000 feet per minute. “We’re gonna crash into the ground 722 Bravo Delta,” she said, according to that report, followed by a scream. Only about two minutes earlier she had reported “light, clear ice,” called it “manageable,” described “moderate turbulence,” then said “We’re picking up precipitation” and asked to climb.

The Learjet 60 crashed around 12:50 p.m. Sunday near Military Trail and 10th Avenue North in Greenacres, Palm Beach County. It had left Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas bound for North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said all nine people on the flight died. AP News identified the co-pilot as Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, 20, who had held a pilot’s license since she was a teenager. Her sister Giulia Filgueiras said, “Flying was her biggest passion.” She told reporters, “That was her dream to become a pilot since she was very young.” The other victims’ names have not been released. FAA records show the aircraft registered to a Delaware LLC.

Dashcam video showed the jet nose-diving into a roadway and exploding into a fireball, according to NBC News and CNN. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis briefed reporters on a crater and a debris field that stretched a significant distance; he said there were no reports of injuries or deaths on the ground. Area resident Anthony Blackmon told NBC South Florida he was about 500 feet away when the plane went down. About 600 residents of a nearby mobile home park were evacuated, Palm Beach County Commissioner Joel Flores said. The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office closed all northbound and southbound lanes of Military Trail.

Bombardier issued a statement of condolence and said it would not discuss the cause until investigators finish their work. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating. A flood watch was in effect for South Florida that day, the National Weather Service said.