Palm Beach County Tragedy: Learjet 60 Crashes, Killing Nine

A business jet bound for the Bahamas crashed into a residential neighborhood in Florida on Sunday, November 1, killing everyone on board. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said all nine people aboard the aircraft were killed in the incident near Military Trail in Palm Beach County.

The Learjet 60, registered as N722BD, departed Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas for North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas. FAA officials stated that the impact occurred at approximately 12:50 p.m. Eastern time. The agency called its information preliminary. Officials had not released the names of the nine people killed.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy characterized the event as a horrific tragedy in a post on X. He announced that the FAA is deploying a team to assist the National Transportation Safety Board, which leads the investigation. The NTSB launched a go-team on Sunday, with investigators expected to arrive Sunday and Monday morning. A media briefing is scheduled for Monday in West Palm Beach.

Jim Reynolds, a spokesperson for Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, identified the aircraft as private. He said he could not say who was on the flight and called it definitely a tragedy. The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office placed the crash site in Greenacres, a city of approximately 45,000 residents located roughly seven miles southwest of West Palm Beach.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis visited the scene and described the crash as cataclysmic. He told reporters that the jet appeared like a missile descending from the sky, leaving a large crater on the side of the road. DeSantis stated that there were no reports of ground casualties at the time of his news conference. He praised Palm Beach County first responders for their quick response.

Video captured by nearby drivers shows the jet plunging from the sky and striking the roadway before exploding. Flames surrounded chunks of pavement near the crater, which was located feet from homes and inches from passing vehicles. Thick black smoke obscured the site, and footage from WPBF showed the asphalt buckled where the impact occurred. The crash site is about four miles south of the local airport, renamed President Donald J. Trump International Airport earlier this year.

Witnesses described the moment of impact with visceral detail. Anthony Blackmon, a resident about 500 feet away, said debris hit his house and the road was on fire. Roger Forcelle reported feeling the aircraft pass over his home, shaking the structure before it crashed less than half a mile away. Andrew Mannino stated that the power went out immediately and he smelled smoke while watching a large black cloud rise.

About 600 people in a nearby mobile home community had to leave their homes Sunday night, county officials said. The crash scene blocks the park’s entrance and is being treated as a crime scene while federal investigators work. No official has alleged that a crime took place. Palm Beach County Commissioner Joel Flores, the first county official on site, said residents were being directed to two county shelters. The Red Cross stood by, and Palm Tran buses were ready to carry residents once law enforcement allowed the evacuation.

The crash has disrupted traffic in the area, with Military Trail closed between 10th Avenue North and Purdy Lane/Alameda Drive. The county instructed drivers to use 10th Avenue North and Purdy Lane/Alameda Drive for east-west travel and Haverhill Road and Kirk Road for north-south travel. Officials warned that road closures could persist for an extended period due to the crater and the ongoing federal investigation.

Air traffic control recordings reveal the sequence of events leading to the crash. The jet was flying east at 35,000 feet when pilots reported turbulence, icing, and precipitation. They requested a climb of 2,000 feet. Minutes before the crash, the pilot reported light, clear ice that was manageable and moderate turbulence. The pilot also reported an outside air temperature of minus 47 degrees Celsius and turbulence causing vertical movements of up to 700 feet.

The situation deteriorated rapidly after the request to climb. The pilot radioed that the jet was descending 8,000 feet, then declared a mayday as the descent rate hit 10,000 feet per minute. The aircraft entered an overspeed condition while descending at 20,000 feet per minute. The pilot stated the jet was going to crash into the ground, and CBS News reported the pilot also said they were out of time. The descent rate peaked at 30,000 feet per minute, pushing the plane beyond its design limits before it banked sharply right.

The FAA reported that the jet fell from 35,250 feet to 8,750 feet in one minute. Flight tracking data from ADS-B Exchange showed a drop of 27,000 feet in about a minute before the signal was lost. The aircraft was in an area where the FAA had issued a convective SIGMET warning of thunderstorms. Scattered storms were present, and the jet passed through a stronger storm cell shortly before the descent began. Heavy rain fell across the region, with a flood watch in effect through Monday afternoon.

Mary Schiavo, a CNN aviation analyst, noted that dashcam video will be critical for investigators. She stated that the steep dive indicated the pilots had lost control of the aircraft. Schiavo suggested the dive could have torn parts off the plane and that the flight recorder may have been destroyed in the explosion. It is unknown if the jet carried a cockpit voice recorder, as FAA rules require them only for jets flown for hire. The jet is listed online as available for charter, and officials have not confirmed who operated the flight.

The crash is the deadliest ever involving a Learjet 60, according to Flight Safety Foundation data. In 2008, four people were killed when a Learjet 60 crashed on takeoff in Columbia, South Carolina. NTSB records list this as the second deadliest crash in the United States this year, following a skydiving plane crash in Butler, Missouri, in June that killed 12. The Learjet brand, made famous in the 1960s, was most recently built by Bombardier, which stopped production in 2021 but continues to support aircraft in service.