Learjet plummeted at 350 feet per second before hitting Florida road, killing all nine
A private jet broke up during a rapid descent from 35,000 feet, creating a crater near Greenacres and killing a family of four.
By Evelyn Henderson ·
The Federal Aviation Administration measured the impact speed of the Learjet 60 at 350 feet per second when it struck the ground in Palm Beach County, Florida, on Sunday. All nine people aboard the aircraft perished in the crash.
The victims included a family of four from the United States: Adam Robinson, Helen Sharp, and their two young children, Emma, 4, and Charlie, 2. Robinson's brother, Anthony, confirmed the identities of the family members. He described the couple as a "love affair that will last forever" in an online statement.
The co-pilot, identified by her stepfather as Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, was 20 years old. The aircraft also carried six other passengers and one other crew member. The Palm Beach Sheriff's Office stated that it is too early to release all official victim identities. The medical examiner's office is currently engaged in a lengthy process of DNA collection and assessment.
The Learjet, operated by Aurora Aviation doing business as Upper Jets, departed Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas at 10:37 a.m. ET on Sunday. Its destination was North Eleuthera in the Bahamas. The plane was flying at 35,000 feet when the crew reported issues to air traffic control.
At 12:47 p.m. ET, the crew reported encountering moderate turbulence and light clear ice. They noted that the conditions were manageable but that the turbulence caused altitude deviations of about 700 feet. The outside air temperature was recorded at minus 53 degrees Fahrenheit.
The crew requested and received permission to climb to 37,000 feet. Less than 30 seconds later, the aircraft transmitted a Mayday call. The crew announced they were in an overspeed condition and descending rapidly. NTSB board member Tom Chapman said the plane may have been breaking up before it hit the ground.
The jet crashed nose-first near Military Trail between Cresthaven Boulevard and 10th Avenue in the Greenacres community. The impact created a large crater in a roadway near a shopping center. One man in a vehicle immediately adjacent to the site sustained a leg injury.
NTSB investigator in charge Timothy Monville estimated the debris field covered an area of one-half mile by four-tenths of a mile. The wreckage scattered across ball fields, businesses, and houses. Monville said recovering wreckage from the crater is the biggest obstacle for investigators. Rainwater has already seeped into the impact site.
The crash prompted the evacuation of hundreds of people from 77 mobile homes in the area. County officials announced the evacuations following the NTSB briefing. Investigators will remain at the scene for several days to collect evidence.
NTSB officials said they do not have precise airspeed data for the final moments of the flight. They confirmed the aircraft was traveling at a high rate of speed before the crash. Neither Monville nor Chapman could determine if the jet flew through an active thunderstorm prior to its rapid descent.
Source: ABC7 Chicago
