A business jet carrying nine people crashed into a South Florida neighborhood on Sunday, narrowly missing homes and cars on a busy street.
Car dash cams caught the image of the Learjet 60 as it nose-dived into the ground and exploded in flames in Palm Beach County. It appears part of the jet’s tail, the horizontal stabilizer, was missing.
According to U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, all nine people on board were killed. There were no reports of casualties on the ground.
Images of the crash site show black smoke, burning wreckage, and a large crater in the street.
The aircraft identified as N722BD was a Bombardier Learjet 60 registered to LR60271 LLC out of Wilmington, Delaware.
The privately owned aircraft was on a flight from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (KAUS) to the North Eleuthera Airport (MYEH) in the Bahamas.
The aircraft took off at 10:37 a.m. CST and climbed to an altitude of 41,000 feet. At 12:35 p.m., as the aircraft approached Naples, Florida, the flight crew contacted air traffic control and reported picking up ice and moderate turbulence with altitude changes of plus or minus 600 to 700 feet per minute. The outside temperature was reported at negative 47 degrees Celsius. The crew asked for a different altitude for a “better ride,” which is pilot-speak for a smoother flight.
In the next transmission the pilot noted they needed to climb. At 1:35 p.m. the crew began a descent to 35,000 feet.
At 1:48 p.m., the aircraft had entered a rapid descent and the crew declared an emergency, reporting they were descending at 10,000 feet per minute and in an overspeed condition.
The pilot stated the aircraft was descending at a rate of 22,000 fpm and had entered a bank angle of 60 degrees.
“We’re going to crash into the ground,” the pilot stated. The screams of the crew, and what sounds like a man saying the Lord’s Prayer, is heard, and then the recording ends.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and FAA are sending teams to the crash site.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.