Nine people dead in Learjet crash in south Florida, officials say

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Key context: <p>A Learjet crashed on Sunday afternoon in a residential area in Palm Beach County, Florida, ‌killing all nine people on board, US transportation officials said.</p> <p>The private jet had taken off from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas and was headed to North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a statement.</p> <p>Videos on social ​media showed the jet slamming into the ground next to a road and exploding.</p> <figure class='media w-full w-full media-- media--embed media--uneven media--tweet' data-original-src='https://x.com/AJEnglish/status/2117036516774154508'> <div class='media__item media__item--twitter '><span> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"> <a href="https://twitter.com/AJEnglish/status/2117036516774154508"></a> </blockquote> </span></div> </figure> <p>“It was a ​big-time tragedy that happened,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said at a press conference near ⁠the crash site in Lake Worth Beach.</p> <p>“When you see that video, it’s a jarring thing. It was like ​a missile coming down, and a massive explosion, debris going everywhere.”</p> <p>The National Transportation Safety Board said it had ​launched an investigation into the crash, which Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called a “horrific tragedy”.</p> <p>FAA records list the Bombardier-made Learjet 60’s owner as a Delaware corporation. Canada-based Bombardier said it would fully support the investigation and cooperate as needed.</p> <p>The crash left a “massive crater” ​by the road near the entrance to a mobile home park, Palm Beach County Commissioner Joel Flores ​said at the news conference. About 600 people were being evacuated from the area and relocated to two shelters in the ‌county, ⁠Flores said.</p> <p>Heavy rainfall and thunderstorms were occurring in the area at the time, forecaster AccuWeather said in a statement.</p> <p>An audio recording from a Miami air traffic control centre posted on <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link--external" href="https://www.liveatc.net/recordings.php">LiveATC</a>, a site that broadcasts air traffic control communications, captured the plane’s final moments before the crash in unusual detail.</p> <p>At first, someone in the plane’s ​cockpit reported to an ​air traffic controller that ⁠they were “managing the ice” but faced “moderate” turbulence and were seeking “better rides”.</p> <p>Less than a minute later, the person said “Mayday, mayday”, reporting that the plane was suddenly descending at a ​rate of 10,000 feet per minute.</p> <p>Seconds later, the person said they were declaring ​an emergency, ⁠with the rate of descent accelerating to 20,000 feet per minute.</p> <p>Less than 20 seconds later, the person said: “We’re going to crash into the ground” before saying that the descent rate had reached 22,000 feet per minute as the ⁠plane started ​banking.</p> <p>About 35 seconds after the initial mayday announcement, the last thing ​heard from the cockpit was a rapidly spoken “We’re out of time”.</p> <p>Flight tracking website Flightradar24 said data showed the vertical descent rate at ​one point exceeded 32,000 feet per minute.</p> <figure class='media w-full w-full media-- media--embed media--uneven media--tweet' data-original-src='https://x.com/flightradar24/status/2116985522480656708?a=7QtO4yTjfQE9dONACwU&amp;s=20'> <div class='media__item media__item--twitter '><span> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"> <a href="https://twitter.com/flightradar24/status/2116985522480656708?a=7QtO4yTjfQE9dONACwU&amp;s=20"></a> </blockquote> </span></div> </figure> This development from dawn.com highlights ongoing changes in the sector.