Nine Killed As Bahamas-Bound Learjet Crashes In Florida’s Palm Beach County

Nine people were killed after a Bahamas-bound Learjet crashed near West Palm Beach in Florida on Sunday afternoon, bursting into flames and leaving a large debris field, officials said. The aircraft went down near Military Trail in Palm Beach County, forcing hundreds of residents to seek temporary shelter after the crash blocked the entrance to a mobile home park.

The crash is the second deadliest aviation accident in the United States this year, according to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) records, following a skydiving plane crash in Butler, Missouri, in June that killed 12 people. It is also the deadliest recorded crash involving a Learjet 60, according to data from the Flight Safety Foundation.

Officials have not identified the nine people aboard the aircraft or confirmed how many were passengers and how many were crew members. No deaths have been reported among people on the ground. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the NTSB will investigate the incident.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis described the crash, saying, “It looked like a missile going down.” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed the fatalities and called the crash a “horrific tragedy”.

According to CNN, around 600 residents needed temporary shelter after the crash blocked the entrance to a mobile home park, preventing people from accessing their homes. Joel Flores, Palm Beach County commissioner for District 3, who was the first county official to arrive at the scene, said residents were being sent to two shelters in the county while the site was being investigated.

Pilot Reported Ice And Turbulence Before Declaring Emergency

The Learjet 60 was travelling from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport to the Bahamas, according to the FAA. The aircraft is registered to a limited liability company (LLC) in Delaware and was listed as available for charter online.

CNN reported that minutes before the crash, the pilot had informed air traffic controllers about ice accumulating on the aircraft and moderate turbulence. An outside air temperature of minus 47 degrees Celsius was also reported, with the turbulence causing the aircraft to bounce by up to 700 feet, according to a recording of air traffic control radio calls captured by LiveATC.net.

“We have light, clear ice that is manageable and moderate turbulence,” the pilot radioed the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center.

Moments later, after reporting that precipitation had started and requesting to climb, the pilot declared an emergency.

“We’re descending 8,000 – mayday, mayday - we’re descending 10,000 feet per minute,” the pilot said. “We are in an overspeed condition descending 20,000 feet per minute … We’re going to crash into the ground.”

Flight tracking data from ADS-B Exchange showed that the aircraft descended 27,000 feet over the course of one minute, shortly before the tracking information stopped.

There were scattered storms in the area at the time of the crash. The aircraft had passed through a stronger storm cell a few minutes before beginning its descent. However, it remains unclear whether the weather conditions contributed to the incident.

The flight was also in an area covered by an FAA warning about thunderstorms and potential threats to aircraft, known as a convective Significant Meteorological Information (SIGMET).

Ice accumulation on aircraft wings and other surfaces can affect flight control. In a safety alert published in January 2024, the NTSB warned that in-flight icing could make it harder for pilots to manage an aircraft's flight path and airspeed and prevent it from maintaining level flight. The agency also cautioned that icing conditions could cause pilots to lose control of an aircraft. Investigators have not established whether ice accumulation contributed to Sunday's crash.

Learjet 60 Crash And Aircraft History

Sunday's incident is the deadliest crash involving a Learjet 60, according to Flight Safety Foundation data. In 2008, four people were killed and two others seriously injured when a Learjet 60 overran the runway during a rejected take-off at Columbia Metropolitan Airport in South Carolina. The aircraft was bound for Van Nuys, California.

Learjets have long been associated with private aviation. Bill Lear's Learjet 23 became popular among wealthy travellers shortly after its introduction in the 1960s. The aircraft brand was most recently manufactured by Canadian company Bombardier, which discontinued production of new Learjets in 2021 but continues to provide support for existing aircraft.

Crash Blocks Military Trail, Hundreds Need Shelter

The aircraft crashed near Military Trail, between Cresthaven Boulevard and 10th Avenue North, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.

Footage from CNN affiliate WPBF showed a crater and a section of buckled road where the aircraft struck the ground. Debris was scattered across the area following the impact.

All northbound and southbound lanes of Military Trail were closed until further notice. Authorities advised motorists to avoid the area and use alternate routes.

Andrew Mannino, who witnessed the incident, told CNN that he heard and felt the impact before the power supply was cut.

“I heard and felt the boom,” Mannino told CNN. “The power immediately went out and is still out.”

He also described seeing smoke rising from the crash site, saying he “saw a large black cloud immerse in the air.”

The crash site is around four miles south of the airport in West Palm Beach, which was renamed for US President Donald Trump earlier this year. Trump was in West Palm Beach earlier on Sunday but had departed from the airport aboard Air Force One a little more than an hour before the crash.

Federal Investigators To Examine Crash

The NTSB will lead the investigation, with the FAA providing support. NTSB investigators were expected to arrive at the site on Sunday and Monday, with a news conference also planned for Monday.

Mary Schiavo, CNN aviation analyst and former inspector general for the US Department of Transportation, said dashcam footage showing the crash could be important in helping investigators reconstruct what happened.

Speaking to CNN's Fredricka Whitfield, Schiavo said the airport would have been a suitable place for the aircraft to wait out the bad weather. She also said the aircraft's steep descent indicated that the pilots had lost control.

“That is not a controlled descent. That is a descent where literally you’re exceeding that the speed of the plane on descent. You’re exceeding the descent rate. So at that point, it’s clear whatever happened, they had lost control of the plane,” she said.

Schiavo added that the steep descent could have caused parts of the aircraft to break off. She also said the flight recorder might have been destroyed in the explosion.

It remains unclear whether the aircraft had a cockpit voice recorder, which could provide investigators with key details about the pilots' communications before the crash. FAA regulations require multi-engine jet aircraft to carry cockpit voice recorders when they are operated for hire.

Records show that the Learjet was listed as available for charter flights. However, it has not been established whether it was operating as a charter flight at the time of the crash.