A business jet that crashed in South Florida with nine people aboard, including a family with two young children, likely started breaking apart before it slammed into the ground and erupted in a fireball, a federal investigator.
Video recorded by passersby captured the Bahamas-bound Learjet's rapid nosedive Sunday afternoon (local time) before it exploded in Greenacres, about 11 kilometres southwest of West Palm Beach. Flames flickered around chunks of pavement lining the crater as shocked residents looked on in horror. Thick black smoke engulfed the crash site, and little remained of the plane.
The victims included 20-year-old co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, as well as technology entrepreneur Adam Robinson, his wife, Helen Sharp, and their two young children, relatives said.
Weather is a major focus of the investigation
National Transportation Safety Board member Tom Chapman said during a news conference that investigators found evidence the aircraft started breaking up before it hit the ground and that debris from the aircraft could be spread far and wide.
Jeff Guzzetti, a former investigator for the NTSB and the Federal Aviation Administration, said key components of the jet's tail may have been lost during the turbulence or as it nose-dived, making the plane impossible to control.
“That very well could explain the missile-like profile just before it hit the ground," he said.
Weather conditions will be a major focus of the investigation, Chapman said. Rain pounded the region, and one of the pilots told air traffic control about icing conditions at a high altitude.
At the time of the crash, there was an FAA warning out to pilots in the area about nearly stationary thunderstorms with cloud tops reaching all the way up to 45,000 feet, according to AccuWeather. Pilots are trained to avoid thunderstorms, if possible, for safety.
Chapman said investigators still have to determine what the weather conditions were at 11,000 metres, the altitude the plane was flying at when the pilot started reporting problems.
Retired airline pilot John Cox, who is now CEO of the Safety Operating Systems consulting business, said the conditions the pilot described on the radio, with turbulence as well as liquid precipitation freezing on the plane at negative 47 degrees Celsius, would have terrified him.
Typically, precipitation at that altitude and temperature comes in the form of ice crystals that simply go around the plane, he said.
“Those are all really big red flags to me," he said.
Chapman said the plane was originally equipped with a cockpit voice recorder that investigators hope to recover.
“We have a lot of work to do on scene,” NTSB investigator Timothy Monville said at the news conference. “This will be a several-day process, and the biggest obstacle that we’re going to have is recovering the major wreckage from the impacted crater on the roadway.”
Victims include a 20-year-old copilot, tech entrepreneur and his family
Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras was the copilot flying the Learjet from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas.
Filgueiras earned her license in 2023 when she was a 17-year-old senior at West Boca Raton Community High School, according to local news reports at the time.
Filgueiras' pilot's licence showed she had the rating to fly the jet but not to be in command of the flight.
The Palm Beach County School District paid for her license as part of the high school’s specialised aviation academy, in which students practice flying on simulators and drones.
“Some people think that it’s weird that I can fly planes, but I can’t drive a car,” Filgueiras told WPEC-TV in 2023. “I think it’s funny.”
The crash also killed Adam Robinson, his wife, Helen Sharp, and their children, 4-year-old Emma and 2-year-old Charlie, according to a statement from the families of the seven passengers. Anita Maria Cetina, who helped care for the children, also died.
Two more victims were identified as Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr. The identity of the other pilot was not immediately disclosed.
"Our hearts are also with the families of the pilots, who are grieving alongside us," the families of the seven said.
Robinson recently told the ProfitLed podcast that he and his family lived in Aspen, Colorado. He was a co-founder of Robly, an email marketing platform, and founder of Retention.com, which uses technology to connect e-commerce website visitors to their email addresses.
“I feel like I’m living the dream,” Robinson, 45, said.
“I love the fact that I get to see my kids in the morning and the evening, and I don’t have to travel for work that much, and I get to live in this place that’s always been my dream,” he said. “And my wife is super happy because she can be a full-time artist."
Robinson was known in Austin, Texas, where Retention.com was based. It's the second time this year that Austin has lost a tech entrepreneur in a plane crash, following the June death of Joshua Baer, who led a venture capital firm that supported tech startups.
"Adam was part of the entrepreneurial fabric of Austin," said Thom Singer, CEO of the Austin Technology Council, which promotes the local industry.
Pilot reported turbulence and ice, then the jet fell rapidly
The plane was heading east when the pilot started to report problems. According to air traffic control recordings captured by LiveATC.net, the pilot said ice was accumulating on the jet and that turbulence was jolting it by as much as 700 feet (210 meters).
“We have light, clear ice that is manageable and moderate turbulence,” the pilot told controllers.
The situation rapidly deteriorated.
The pilot requested permission to climb another 2,000 feet (610 meters) and then quickly declared an emergency as the jet lost altitude at an alarming rate.
“We’re descending 8,000 — mayday, mayday — we’re descending 10,000 feet per minute,” the pilot radioed.
“We are in an overspeed condition descending 20,000 feet per minute,” the pilot radioed. Moments later, the pilot said: “We’re going to crash into the ground.”
Video shows the plane banking sharply to the right before crashing and exploding.
Some area residents are still not allowed to return home
Palm Beach County Commissioner Joel G. Flores said at a news conference that the county “doesn’t have a clue” when residents who live near the crash site will be able to return to their homes as investigators continue to comb the area for debris and other material that could be used to investigate the cause of the crash.
A shelter has been established for the residents of almost 80 mobile homes near the crash site, Flores said.
“Our concern right now is clearing the scene so that our residents can get back to normal,” he said. “We don’t really have a timeline as to when they are going to be able to comb through all the evidence and do everything they need to do, and that leaves our community looking for answers.”
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